Loving Instructions

Leviticus 19-27 (4 days in my http://www.bibleinayear.org/ reading plan). I am still more than 2 weeks behind. :-(

As I read through the chapters of Leviticus, what speaks to me most is love of a God who wants to dwell with us, and to teach us about the gravity of sin.

Last evening, R2 wanted to go to the playground (R1 was still having his dinner), so I went with him. The kids played catching and I chatted with a neighbour. Before I knew it, R2 has bounded after another boy and ran across the street. Thankfully it wasn't a busy street, but I was not amused. I had to take him home and discipline him - despite his protests that he was just following the other boys, we did not tell him not to run across THAT PARTICULAR street, and then claiming that he forgot, etc... (Just look at the innocent look on his face.) I didn't like doing it, but I had to do it, because I had to make sure that he fully understood the gravity of his misdeed. I had to be very strict with him despite his excuses because I wanted him to be consistent in how he acts going forword - i.e. never run across ANY street again.

In a way, this little incident sums up the book of Leviticus rather well. God loves us, wants to be with us, and wants the best for us (just like I love R2, want to bring him to the playground, and I want him to play safe and play nicely with the other kids). God knows that the land of Canaan is a dangerous place for the Israelites if they fall into the same detestable practices of the land - which included child sacrifice and prostitution. Hence He wants them to be set apart from the rest of the people and obey His instructions (just like me wanting R2 to obey my instructions not to run across the street, whether or not the other kids do so).

I now see the meticulous (and sometimes repetitive) instructions in the book of Leviticus as the painstaking effort that God made to explain and drill home the gravity of sin and how to avoid it, and when that fails, how to atone for it. I cannot love R2 and allow him to run across the street at this age, whatever others do, and God cannot love us without telling us, in His infinite wisdom, what is not good for us.

Praise God!

Sin is SERIOUS STUFF!

Leviticus chapters 1 - 18 (6 days in my http://www.bibleinayear.org/ reading plan).

I used to find these chapters really dry - a whole lot of stuff about ceremonies and rules that do not seem too relevant to life today. Praise God that the more times I read these chapters, the more of His nature speaks to me. I am gradually understanding how the Old Testament form of atonement & worship is actually very relevant to the entire message of the Bible.

Perhaps above all else, is the very clear message that (1) sin is serious stuff that God abhores and (2) despite how much God hates sin, He still wants to dwell with us and have a relationship with us, hence the very elaborate atonement and worship processes laid out in Leviticus.

There is certainly a very clear message that atonement (for sin) can only be made by spilling blood - I guess this re-enforces the truth that sin brings death, and since blood is the "life of the flesh", blood must be spilled to atone for sin - Leviticus 17:11.

Worship in the Old Testament days was a serious affair, the person who presents the sacrifice has to put his hand on the head of the animal (vivid reminder that the animal is dying in his place), and even kill and skin the animal himself (Leviticus 3 seems to suggest that even though only the priest can minister before God by offering/burning the sacrifice, the requirement is that the animal is killed and skinned by the person who brings it). Even in those days without nicely packed meat in supermarkets, that must have been quite a graphic reminder of the seriousness of sin and the heavy price needed to atone for it so Man can approach God.

This culminated in God coming in the form of Jesus and spilling His own blood as atonement for all our sins - past, present and future - the ultimate and final sacrifice in accordance to His own requirements. It is the perfect way for God to extend His love and grace to us, and yet not compromise His perfect and holy nature.