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Dedicating Our Days to God

Todd R 1 Comment

When the Temple in Jerusalem was built under King Solomon, he dedicated it first with a lengthy prayer, followed by a massive number of sacrifices:

“King Solomon offered as a sacrifice 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God.” – 2 Chronicles 7:5

There is no record of Solomon and the people considering the loss of all this livestock as a burden or an economic catastrophe.  The Bible simply records that they made the sacrifices.  In dedicating the Temple, the people were marking it as a place to be only used in the worship of their God, and in offering such a massive sacrifice they were acknowledging that they should dedicate all they have to their God as well.

What does this mean for us today?  In the middle of 1 Corinthians 6:16, Paul wrote that “we are the temple of the living God.”  Therefore, our temple – our bodies and all we have – should be dedicated to the worship of God.  We probably don’t have 22,000 oxen or 120,000 sheep to offer Him, but what do we have to offer?

In each day, there are 1,440 minutes (or 86,400 seconds).  Are we willing to sacrifice them all to God without considering it a burden?  I know I don’t, but I pray each day to get closer to the goal of complete dedication to God.  I pray each of you will grow closer to Him as well.

Amen.

Love When Bad Things Happen

Todd R 3 Comments

Fellow travelers,

Sometimes things happening in the world grab our attention and make us assign more significance to them than they deserve.  Sometimes these are natural phenomena, like earthquakes, comets, or eclipses, and sometimes they are manmade phenomena, like wars.

One reason we do this is that passages in the Bible like Mark 13:5-23 describe what events will happen before Jesus returns again.  We want Him to return!  While it’s right to anticipate with excitement that Jesus is coming back, it’s important to sort out such passages by what is describing what will happen (descriptive truth) and what God tells us to do when these things happen (prescriptive truth).  In all circumstances, the God’s primary commandments for us are to love God and to love our neighbor, even if they are our enemy.  No phenomena should pull us off that path, and Mark 13:5-23 recommends that.

In the table below, I paraphrase and categorize Mark’s message into what is descriptive vs. prescriptive truth:

DescriptivePrescriptive
Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’See that no one leads you astray
You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, and nation will rise against nationDo not be alarmed
Earthquakes and famines in various locationsBe on your guard
You will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sakeBear witness before them and do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say
Brother will deliver brother over to death and you will be hated by allEndure
False christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wondersBe on guard

To Jesus, none of the things in the descriptive column are new information.  All were included in His plan from eternity past.  The actions He recommends are not new information either.  The “Prescriptive” column tells us not to panic, but to endure, to keep doing what we should be doing before these bad things happened – Love God, love your neighbor, even if your neighbor is your enemy.

On the other hand, false christs and prophets will tell us current events are unprecedented and a fulfillment of prophecy and they will tell us what we should do.  The false prophet takes the descriptive of evil in the world and creates their own false prescriptive.  They recommend an incomplete and inaccurate narrative of current events as an ultimate solution.  Their own Babel which God must “come down” from heaven to even see (Genesis 11:5).  But the true Christ calmly says, “be on guard; I have told you all things beforehand”. (Mark 13:23). The true Christ comes down from heaven and demonstrates how to create a true ladder back to heaven, offering forgiveness to all, even those who refuse to accept it or practice love.  He will be thoroughly and eternally glorified by manifesting His kingdom as the only eternal kingdom, ruled by love, not by panic over current events.

No matter what we see happening in the news or in the world, Jesus knew it was coming and He told us that in any circumstance we should obey and glorify Him, through love for Him and neighbor.  He doesn’t panic and neither should we.

Amen.

Bible in a Year: Week of April 15 – 21

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Fellow travelers:

Below are the chapters to read this week if you’re following along in my Bible in a year schedule, divided into morning and evening readings.  Follow along any way you want: just do the evening reading, flip the morning and evening, read it all.  Whatever works for you and your schedule!  It doesn’t have to be Bible in a Year for everyone.

Monday, April 15
Morning: Psalm 106, 2 Chronicles 5
Evening: Leviticus 16

Tuesday, April 16
Morning: Psalm 107, 2 Chronicles 6
Evening: Leviticus 17

Wednesday, April 17
Morning: Psalm 108, 2 Chronicles 7
Evening: Leviticus 18

Thursday, April 18
Morning: Psalm 109, 2 Chronicles 8
Evening: Leviticus 19

Friday, April 19
Morning: Psalm 110, 2 Chronicles 9
Evening: Leviticus 20

Saturday, April 20
Morning: Psalm 111, 2 Chronicles 10-11
Evening: Leviticus 21

Sunday, April 21
Morning: Psalm 112, 2 Chronicles 12-13
Evening: Leviticus 22

A Surprising Picture of Salvation

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Yesterday’s post discussed the healing of a leper by Jesus in Mark 1:40-42, which says: “And a leper came to [Jesus], imploring him, and kneeling said to him, ‘If you will, you can make me clean.’  Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, ‘I will; be clean.’  And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.”

However, the story continues in Mark 1:43-44 – “And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once, and said to him, ‘See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to them.’”

Jesus, while unconcerned that this leper was not following Levitical law to remain quarantined, He was concerned that he testify to the priests.  What might the priests learn from performing the cleansing rites for a recovered leper?  The procedure is detailed in Leviticus 14:1-20, which I’ve pulled from below:

“if the case of leprous disease is healed in the leprous person, the priest shall command them to take for him who is to be cleansed two live clean birds and cedarwood and scarlet yarn and hyssop.  And the priest shall command them to kill one of the birds in an earthenware vessel over fresh water.  He shall take the live bird with the cedarwood and the scarlet yarn and the hyssop, and dip them and the live bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water.  And he shall sprinkle it seven times on him who is to be cleansed of the leprous disease. Then he shall pronounce him clean and shall let the living bird go into the open field…on the eighth day he shall take two male lambs without blemish…And he shall kill the lamb…The priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering, and…put it on the lobe of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot. Then the priest shall take some of the log of oil and…shall put [it] on the lobe of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot, on top of the blood of the guilt offering…Thus the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be clean.”

While this probably seems confusing, Warren Wiersbe says that “Leviticus 14 presents a beautiful picture in type of the work of redemption.”  How?

Photo by hiva sharifi on Unsplash

“The two birds represent two different aspects of our Lord’s ministry: His incarnation and death (the bird put into the jar and then killed), and His resurrection and ascension (the bird stained with the blood and then set free). The blood was applied to the man’s right ear (God’s Word), right thumb (God’s work), and right great toe (God’s walk). Then the oil was put on the blood, symbolizing the Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit cannot come on human flesh until first the blood has been applied.”[1]

After Jesus was sacrificed on the cross, died, and then was raised from the dead, perhaps Leviticus 14 made more sense to the priests who cleansed the leper healed by Jesus.  Perhaps they saw a picture of their Savior.

[1] Wiersbe, Warren.  Be Diligent (Mark) (1987).  P. 28.

Compassion is More Than Skin Deep

Todd R 2 Comments

Many miraculous healings are highlighted in the four gospel records of Jesus’ ministry, and many point to a greater miracle: that God, in His mercy and compassion, heals us of the sin that divides us from Him and each other.  Today’s post will focus on a miracle recorded in Mark 1:40-42, where Jesus heals a leper:

“And a leper came to [Jesus], imploring him, and kneeling said to him, ‘If you will, you can make me clean.’  Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, ‘I will; be clean.’  And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.”

There is more to this story that Mark didn’t write.  What’s missing?  Jesus pointing out that this leper is breaking Old Testament law. 

In Leviticus 13:45-46, Moses wrote that: “The leprous person who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose, and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean.’  He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. He is unclean. He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp.”

Because the kind of leprosy referred to in Leviticus and Mark was highly contagious and possibly deadly, this weird ritual was required to prevent accidental transmission of disease, but this particular leper couldn’t stay away from Jesus, and because Jesus was surrounded by crowds, the leper was potentially putting others in danger.  Mark doesn’t write that Jesus was concerned about this.

But the leper wasn’t entirely at ease, doubting whether Jesus would condemn him as an outcast and lawbreaker, or heal him.  What he did not doubt was that Jesus was capable of healing him, as he said to Jesus: “If you will, you can make me clean.”  To this leper, it was a question of whether this religious leader would be willing to help him.  He probably spent a lot of time being told to go away because of his disease; to follow the Levitical law.  Perhaps even now, in modern times, some might be curious about God’s power, but see religious people as uncaring and unwilling to help someone who is so obviously diseased and sinful.  Perhaps they are uncaring because other people are so obviously diseased and sinful.

In Leviticus chapter 13 there are also rules about how to identify a leper, and it’s usually when the symptoms are “deeper than the skin.” (See Leviticus 13:3, 20, 25, and 30). From this phrase, Warren Wiersbe notes in his commentary on Mark chapter 1 how leprosy is an apt metaphor for sin: “Like sin, leprosy is deeper than the skin (Lev. 13:3); it spreads (Lev. 13:5–8); it defiles and isolates (Lev. 13:44–46) …Anyone who has never trusted the Savior is spiritually in worse shape than this man was physically.”[1]

Not only can diseases be more than skin deep, but inner sin can be more dangerous and contagious.  As Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount, murder is an outward manifestation of inner anger[2], and adultery is an outward manifestation of inner lust[3].  Sins “deeper than the skin” may be the most important sins because they are the root of the visible external sins.

Photo by Marco Bianchetti on Unsplash

Fortunately, like inner sin and like leprosy, God’s compassion is also more than skin deep.  In Mark 1:41, the phrase “moved with pity” is a translation of a Greek word that suggests not just a passing feeling or sentiment, but something you literally feel in your guts.  The Greek word appears only 12 times in the New Testament, and always referring to Jesus or God the Father.  You might say that Jesus’ compassion for the leper was so powerful that He felt the leper’s pain in his own gut and was compelled to help him.

Unconcerned about whether His actions would condone the leper’s disregard for the law, the compassion of Jesus compelled Him to heal not just the leper’s bodily disease but also his spiritual disease of sin.  As written in Luke 15:10 – “Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Jesus had His priorities right.

May we be likewise “moved with pity” for the sick and lost!

[1] Wiersbe, Warren.  Be Diligent (Mark) (1987).  P. 28.
[2] Matthew 5:21-22
[3] Matthew 5:27-30