Leviticus 15-16

Leviticus 16 describes the Day of Atonement. God gives Moses the instructions for how once a year the high priest can enter the Most Holy Place, and there is sin offerings of a goat and a bull. There is another goat that is the scapegoat that the high priest puts the sins of the nation on his head and then they release it into the desert.

I must admit that although I do find Leviticus a bit boring, I am beginning to understand why it is important to read it. It gives me a better understanding of what Jesus did and the law that he not only released us from, but took to completion. Jesus became our scapegoat. Jesus tore the curtain to the Most Holy Place and became our high priest.

Hebrews 9 says:
11When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. 12He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. 13The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. 14How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
15For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.

I am so thankful!

Leviticus 14

Our pastor on Sunday was talking about Spiritual laziness and as an example mentioned having a goal to read the Bible in a year but quitting about half way through Leviticus. I am bound and determined for that not to happen to me! I have to admit, however, that the chapter on how to cleanse from infectious skin disease or what to do if your house has mildew is challenging. I keep thinking "This is the word of God, there must be something for me in these passages that reveals God's character".

A couple of things come to mind:
- He cares about not just our spiritual health, but also our physical health
- He leaves a way for people that have been sick to return to their people. He desires for them to be part of the community.

The Grevengoed family is having a big day today so I was hoping for something a little more applicable. Knowing that God cares about our health means that he cares about the other things that happen in our life, I do take comfort in that. We're praying for his will to be revealed and we're thankful that he cares about us.

Leviticus 13, Matthew 26

Leviticus spent a lot of time talking about how to deal with infectious skin disease. That would be sad to get a skin disease since you have to live outside of camp and if anyone passes by you yell "unclean, unclean". I realize you don't want everyone to get this disease, but that is a sad way to live.

Matthew 26 is leading up to the death of Jesus. He is anointed with oil and the disciples thought it was wasteful, but Jesus defends it. This bothers Judas and right after that he goes to the chief priests to betray him.

The story that strikes me the most is the story of Peter who tells Jesus in verse 35 "Even if I have to die with you, I will not deny you!" but then later in vs 74 he denies him for a third time, as Jesus predicted. This reminds me of a passage in the book I just read "Don't Waste your Life" by John Piper. He has a whole chapter entitled "Risk is right - better to lose your life than to waste it" where he spends time talking about risk and safety and what that really means to risk. I don't run into situations where I fear for my life for Jesus' sake, but I do run into situations where I would risk credibility professionally. While I might not deny him, per se, I don't always follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit to say something.

Peter ends up dying for his faith. In time his faith is strengthened so that he is willing to risk it all for Christ. I am praying that merely losing some professional credibility means nothing to me in comparison to the riches that I would gain in Christ.

Leviticus 8-12

Most of the passages of Leviticus 8-12 is law concerning the preparation of their food and which animals are clean or unclean. Leviticus 8 and 9 marks the beginning of the ministry of the priests where they begin wearing the special clothing that was prepared for them and then stayed at the Tent of Meeting for 7 days. On the 8th day they sacrificed a sin offering, burnt offering, and a fellowship offering. After this the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. Leviticus 9:24 "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."

Can you imagine this: God provides fire from Himself for the burnt offering - what an amazing sight!

Then Leviticus 10. As they are experiencing the Lord's holiness Aaron's sons Nabad and Abihu offered "unauthorized fire" which was "contrary to his command" and God didn't like this. God sent out fire and they died before the Lord. God is showing himself holy and demanding honor from the people. Because they died in their sin God doesn't let Aaron mourn their death, but leaves that to the rest of Israel.

My reaction to this is: Whoa! God, don't you think you're being a little extreme here? What did they do that was so terrible that it demanded death?

The verses that follow have God prohibiting priests from drinking wine which implies that his sons were drunk and thought in their pride that they wanted to do something other than what God had commanded to show that they knew better than Moses. They were trying to put themselves over God, while masking it as worship. God demands more from those who are his priests and this attitude could not be tolerated.

I started thinking of other times in the Bible when God punished with death:
- Lot's wife turned to salt (Genesis 19:26)
- Uzzah died when he touched the Ark of the Covenant when the oxen stumbled (2 Samuel 6:6-7, 1 Chronicles 13:10)
- Ananias and Sapphira when they lied about their giving to the Lord (Acts 5: 1-11)

What do these stories have in common? Lot's wife mourns those that God finds evil, Uzzah was irreverent by touching the ark of God, Ananias and Sapphira wanted praise from men rather than wanting to give to God. In all of these cases the people involved forget who they're dealing with. The Lord - holy, mighty, all-knowing, intolerant of evil. The Lord knows our hearts and our motivations. Maybe Uzzah reached out to save the Ark in order to get rewarded by King David rather than out of concern for God. We must evaluate constantly the desires of our hearts. God wants the one desire of our hearts to be God and him glorified. When we do things to glorify ourselves but masquerade as one glorifying God, that's when we run into trouble.

Leviticus 6-7, Matthew 25

Before getting into my bible reading I want to comment on a mini personal retreat that I had yesterday. Mark had the kids and I had about 4 hours all to myself where I could just read the Bible, pray, and continue with the book that I am reading right now: "Don't Waste Your Life" by John Piper. It was absolutely wonderful to have a pretty solid chunk of time to really be able to think and read and grow. I think we all need to do this periodically - spend a day or two with God. Mark and I try to get away for a couple of days every year for our anniversary to keep our relationship strong, even though we see each other every day. I think we need to do the same with our God. Take some time to just be alone with him. It wasn't long enough for me yesterday, I want more!

Leviticus is making my eyes gloss over a bit, I must admit. I just keep reading it trying to understand the character of our holy God more. One thing that I can tell is that he takes sin very seriously. Even yeast, which is a symbol of the power of sin in our lives, is prohibited in any of the offerings. He wants no hint of it in our lives.

Matthew 25 talks about being ready for the day Christ returns. We don't know when it is going to be so we must always be ready. Jesus says that when he returns in glory and he judges all the nations those who are righteous will have done the following:
- Feed the hungry
- Give something to drink to the thirsty
- Invite in strangers
- Clothe those who need it
- Look after the sick
- Visit those in prison
Although I have heard this passage many times before it's something that I'm reading today as if I've never heard it before. The list is so simple and there are things that aren't in this list that I would have thought would be important at judgement day. To me it looks like being generous with money and time and really paying attention to the needs of people around us. Bringing glory to God by helping people meet their physical needs.

How does my life change if I take this list really seriously? How do I help "the least of these"? I'm just praying to the Lord to open my eyes and help me see people the way that he does.

Hearing God's voice

Some of you that know me know that Mark and I have been struggling with how to represent Jesus to our former business partner. For a more detailed description of what we've been struggling with, see my previous blog post:

Matthew 5&6

I really felt like I couldn't know the dollar amount that would satisfy our partner (if there was such an amount) so I've been praying about how much to give him. I felt like the Lord kept telling me a certain amount but I wanted to get confirmation so I asked Mark to be in prayer about this as well.

Recently I ran into a mutual friend of our partner and I and he mentioned to me a couple of little comments that he made about us recently that strengthened my conviction to make right with him the best I could. I threw our a number to Mark that our friend had mentioned to me and Mark responded "I had been thinking a little bit more.". And then he said the amount that I believed the Lord had been telling me all along. This was the confirmation that I needed.

So I looked at the bank balance to make sure I had enough money. It made me a little tight but was doable, so we wrote e check and sent it out, knowing that if we are in God's will then he will provide for us.

Later that day I went to the bank to deposit a couple small checks I had been carrying around in my purse and found in there a commission check that I had forgotten about. I never forget about commission checks! It more than covered the amount we had just written and felt again like God blessing us for following his leading. Feeling his leading is just absolutely so amazing. Hearing his voice is something that I used to think was reserved for people in the Bible. But it happens to us if we just listen! Even though He sometimes tells me hard things or asks for things that are hard, I absolutely love to hear his voice.

I've been reading in Exodus about Moses going to the tent of meeting and talking to God as one converses with a friend. I used to long for that opportunity, while being blind to the opportunity to enter his presence in prayer whenever I wanted. Praise him for tearing the curtain in the holy of holies so that we can talk directly to God! I am amazed by this privilege and so grateful.

Exodus 25-26

Exodus 25 and 26 is the detailed description of how to build the tabernacle and it's furniture. It starts with the Lord asking the Israelites for an offering from each man whose heart prompts him to give. In Sunday School we were just talking about the difference between "Offering" and "Collection". Collection implies that it isn't quite voluntary, somebody's coming to get it. The IRS collects our taxes, we don't offer it to them.

In this passage he is clearly not asking for a percentage or anything else like that, he just asks for whatever their heart prompts him to give. I think that this is a reference to the Holy Spirit, as he is the one that whispers things to our hearts. I think he is just asking Israel to obey the Spirit's promptings.

The rest of the chapters were very detailed building instructions and I'm not sure that I understand the symbolism. It's interesting to me that he does give such detail, surely there were skilled men in construction among the Israelites. He is revealing things about Himself in the plans: His holiness. I think we focus sometimes too much on how God loves us and we think of Him as warm and fuzzy, which is a side of him to be sure. But there is also the side of him that is almost a little scary where He demands our solemn respect in the presence of his Holiness.

I'm going to think more today about our God who is Holy and think about what it means to fear the Lord.

Exodus 23-24, Matthew 20

Exodus 23 has the laws of justice and mercy where he spells out that you don't take advantage of the poor, or refuse to help someone that you dislike. I love that our God is one that concerned about justice and mercy, and realize that he wants me to love justice and mercy also. Exodus 24 is the story of Moses giving the laws to the Israelites and then going back up on the mountain where he was with God for 40 days and nights. What an amazing experience that must have been!

The theme of Matthew 20 is that the last will be first. Starting with the parable of the workers in the vineyard where a landowner hires people for his vineyard at various times throughout the day, and then pays them all the same. The people who worked longer thought that they should be paid more but the landowner responds "Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?" Jesus concludes "So the last will be first, and the first will be last."

Another story in Matthew 20 shows the mother of the sons of Zebedee asks Jesus if her sons can sit on his right and left in his kingdom. Jesus had just told them that he was going to Jerusalem to be crucified, but yet I think the their mother was referring to an earthly kingdom. Jesus is not. He lectures them on lording authority over others, but whoever wants to be great must be a servant. vs 28 "Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

The second story is more along the lines that I think of when I think "the last will be first". Becoming a servant and living sacrificially is what earns us respect in heaven. The first story, frankly, confuses me a bit. Is he talking about the order in which we get salvation? Some people get saved early in life and work for Jesus all their lives while others are saved just before they die, yet we all share eternal life? Why does this mean the last will be first and the first last?

If any readers have any ideas, I'd love to hear your comments.

Exodus 21-22, Matthew 19

Exodus 21-22 is the continuation of Moses giving the law to the people. It can be summed up with and eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. I remember that Jesus expanded on that and was hoping that this is the passage I was up to in the New Testament, but it wasn't.

Matthew 19 starts out talking about divorce. I would probably linger here if this were an issue that I was dealing with. The second section is the story of the rich man who comes to Jesus to ask what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus tells him to sell all he has and give it tot he poor and come follow him. This man didn't realize what he had: an invitation from the actual Son of God to sit and his feet and learn! The man chooses his money and goes away sad.

Jesus says "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." and the disciples are shocked and ask "Who then can be saved?" and Jesus responds "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." So Jesus isn't saying that rich people don't go to heaven, but he does say that it takes a miracle of God for it to happen.

I'm not sure what this means for me. Rich is such a relative word. In comparison to many people in our area, my house is just a normal, adequate house. In comparison to what most people of the world have, it is a fantastic house. I know that the theme that I keep seeing is people above money. I think Jesus asks this of this man because he could see his heart and his priorities. When asked to give it up, he couldn't do it. It may be that if the man had said "wait here while I sell everything" that Jesus would release the demand because what he's really interested in is where our priorities lie, like the story where God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. Do we trust God to take care of us, or trust our money? Do we love God as long as he doesn't ask for our money? When it really comes down to it, what's more important? If Jesus asked me to sell all we have and go live more modestly so that we are able to give more generously, would I do it? Is he asking that?

Exodus 12-13, Matthew 16

I've gotten a bit behind in blogging about my scripture reading, but I chose these two chapters because they were together in my reading a couple of days ago and it's something that I've been mulling over in my mind. In Exodus 12 and 13 the Lord is describing the Passover celebration and what stood out to me is that for 7 days no yeast is to be used, or even be found in the house. Exodus 12:19 says "And whoever eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off from the community of Israel, whether he is an alien or native-born."

Whoa! If you use yeast you're to be cut off from the community? God is taking this pretty seriously, what's the big deal? Is yeast sinful? If it was just having bread that was ready to go in a hurry when fleeing the Egyptians I don't think the punishment would be so severe.

As that question was brewing in my mind I read Matthew 16. In Matthew 16:6 it says "'Be careful,' Jesus said to them. 'Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.'" and like myself, the disciples were a little confused. They asked him about it and Jesus explained he wasn't talking about bread. Matthew 16:12 "Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees."

Why does Jesus refer to their teaching as yeast? I kind of get it, but I felt I could benefit from further explanation so I looked up other references to yeast and found this verse:

1 Corinthians 5:6-8
Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast works through the hole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast-as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.

From this passage it seems like yeast, like pride, starts out small but begins to work throughout you and become bigger and becomes malice and wickedness. Yeast represents that you must rid yourself of even "small" sins, because it is something that can grow. This is why it must be taken out of the house and if it is not you must be thrown out of the community, for your sin may grow and spread to the other people in your community.

I am praying for God to reveal in me any sin that I may consider small, and replace it with sincerity and truth.

Exodus 4-8, Matthew 15

My Exodus reading today was the continuation of the story of Moses. The Lord appears to him in a burning bush and asks him to go back to Egypt and Moses complains that he's not a talented speaker. I am always struck by that part of the story because of the complete lack of confidence that Moses had was so strong that he had the courage to tell God, who was speaking to him out of a bush, that he wasn't the right one. First God is angry, then he provides a helper - which was his plan all along.

Than Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh and ask not for release, but for 3 days to go and worship their God. I'm not sure why God told them to ask this when the plan was for them to leave completely. It doesn't matter though because Pharaoh doesn't listen to this request. And this is where I see parallels in the Exodus passage and the Matthew passage: in both God uses miracles to get the attention of the people. Much of Jesus' ministry was healing and other miracles. Moses and Aaron called down miraculous plagues on the Egyptians. In both stories even while witnessing these supernatural events there were people who did not believe.

Why not? Pharaoh didn't believe because if he did it meant losing his laborers and he believed in money more. The Pharisees didn't believe because they believed in the law and liked the esteem that came from being an expert. If they believed Jesus then their position as expert was lost as Jesus revealed areas where their interpretation was off.

So now I look to my own heart. God has performed miracles in my life, to be sure. Is there anything that even in the face of this means more to me than believing what is right in front of me? Dear Lord, give me eyes to see.

Exodus 1-3, Matthew 14

Exodus 1-3 tells the beginning of the story of Moses. I am constantly amazed by the flawed people that God uses and how the Bible doesn't skip over the flaws, but states them matter of factly. For example, the journey of Moses begins with him fleeing from Pharaoh because in his anger he had killed an Egyptian. His anger is probably justified, but killing him doesn't seem like the best solution. But God has a plan. He uses that situation to bring about his plan.

Matthew 14 is so packed with stories too much to respond to in this blog. The story of Jesus walking on the water and Peter meeting him. Peter gets scared by the wind of the storm and begins to sink and Jesus says "You of little faith, why did you doubt?" As I read it, I give Peter credit for getting out of the boat. His instinct is faith, but his rational part takes over and makes him dobut. To me, that is the purpose of "training for a crown that lasts". I want my rational part to be faith because I have seen so much that causes me to trust him.

Genesis 45 - God has a plan

My journey of faith and the struggle that I had was never if I believed that God was real or not. It has never really occurred to me that he's not real. Look at the Grand Canyon or the stars in the sky, listen to the first cry of a newborn or feel the power of Niagara Falls. What was hard for me is that I lacked the knowledge that this almighty powerful God who made the earth and everything in it wanted anything to do with me. Why would he care about this one little soul, one of billions of people that have existed on this earth?

In this chapter Joseph reveals himself to his brothers and they were afraid that he was still angry about them selling him into slavery. But Joseph responds "It was not you who sent me here, but God." Joseph sees the order of events that needed to come together to save lives during the famine. When I've read this story in the past at some level I was thinking "Of course God does that for the line of Israel and weaving together the stories that will be in the Bible. Does he really put things together for me? Do I matter to him too?

Yes, he cares for me.

These past few days I went to a conference in Philadelphia and partially due to this blog I've been struggling with what's important in my life. Is selling real estate really something that impacts the kingdom for eternity? Is this where God wants me? In my mind I was thinking that this conference may be a place to find some perspective from other real estate agents of how they believe that this job of mine can fit into the fabric of living a life of faith and caring for people above money. The presenter is a believer and I knew that he was going to be at the reception in the evening. But I also knew that it would be difficult to talk to him. God had a plan for me.

Throughout the day I had been talking with one of the staff people for the company who was presenting the seminar, but had forgotten my business cards. That evening, after I had refilled my business cards, I saw him and began to talk with him again, although he was already in conversation with someone else. As it turns out, God had orchestrated for those people to be together. Although the staff person worked for that company part time, his full time position was pastor of a church. The woman that he was talking to was the youth pastor for her church. They were able to encourage me as to how our profession allows us the flexibility of schedule to also pursue other ministries. I was so encouraged to have gone to this conference and found two pastors, it felt like God affirming my career.

Thanks be to God for caring about the details in our lives. Praise him for being big enough to care about the details of one of billions of people. Glory to his name for not being just the God of the Bible, but for being the God in our lives today.