Maranatha Grace Church

Today we start the Book of Leviticus Challenge in the Old Testament (2 Chapters a day) as a prerequisite to the Book of Hebrews Challenge in the New Testament. While you are reading the book of Leviticus please keep in your mind the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. The Old Testament sacrificial system foreshadowed Jesus offering himself to atone for the sin of the world. ^" The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29)"

Hello:

Book of Leviticus Challenge – Day 2 – Leviticus 3-4 (Please click on the blue links to be directed to the Readings)

 The Lord said to Moses, ² “Say to the Israelites: ‘When anyone sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord’s commands—

³ “‘If the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, he must bring to the Lord a young bull without defect as a sin offering^[a] for the sin he has committed.” (Leviticus 4:1-3)

¹³ “‘If the whole Israelite community sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord’s commands, even though the community is unaware of the matter, when they realize their guilt (Leviticus 4:13)”

²² “‘When a leader sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the commands of the Lord his God, when he realizes his guilt” (Leviticus 4:22)

²⁷ “‘If any member of the community sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord’s commands, when they realize their guilt.” (Leviticus 4:27)”

The word of God says in Ezekiel 18:20: “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” However, I always bring to the attention of the youth that the verse doesn’t say that the soul that sinneth shall suffer alone. Indeed no one suffers alone for their sins and their mistakes. No man is an island, our actions touch somehow everyone close to us, and a lot of times people who are far away from us.

So we must ask the Lord wisdom to avoid all temptation to sin, and to grant us strength to overcome all natural inclinations to do what is wrong. We note that in Leviticus 4, the chapter about “Sin offering,” most of the time the people who sin are not even aware of their sin. Still, their ignorance doesn’t remove their guilt.

What is the offering for our sin? Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The sins that we are unaware of, are the most difficult to get rid of, and they create most of our problems. Sin of fear, sin of doubt, sin of restlessness, sin of carelessness, sin of anxiety? Jesus paid the price for all of our sins on the cross.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Hello:

Book of Leviticus Challenge – Day 3 – Leviticus 5-6 (Please click on the blue links to be directed to the Readings)

 ⁸ The Lord said to Moses: ⁹ “Give Aaron and his sons this command: ‘These are the regulations for the burnt offering: The burnt offering is to remain on the altar hearth throughout the night, till morning, and the fire must be kept burning on the altar. ¹⁰ The priest shall then put on his linen clothes, with linen undergarments next to his body, and shall remove the ashes of the burnt offering that the fire has consumed on the altar and place them beside the altar. ¹¹ Then he is to take off these clothes and put on others, and carry the ashes outside the camp to a place that is ceremonially clean. ¹² The fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must not go out. Every morning the priest is to add firewood and arrange the burnt offering on the fire and burn the fat of the fellowship offerings on it. ¹³ The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out. (Leviticus 6:8-13)

Every time American born youths go to mission trips to a third world country, they come back to the United States transformed with a new perspective on life. They realize how privilege they are to have been born and raised in an economic superpower like the U.S. Things they usually take for granted are now greatly appreciated.

Reading the book of Leviticus is like taking a trip back in time.  We visit a time called “Law”, compared to our present time of “Grace.” It is like going on a mission trip to a third world country. Pupils walk miles and miles just to go to school. The water doesn’t come to the house, it must fetched miles away. Everything is done the hard way.

Through the book of Leviticus, we realize how privilege we are to be under grace as a result of the sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf. Some parents leave their native countries to come to the US, they make a lot of personal sacrifices so their children can come to the US and enjoy the comfort of this rich country. Shouldn’t the children be grateful? Christ did way more for us. Should not we be grateful? Thanks God for Jesus!

May the Lord richly bless you!

Hello:

Book of Leviticus Challenge – Day 4 – Leviticus 7-8 (Please click on the blue links to be directed to the Readings)

 ³⁷ These, then, are the regulations for the burnt offering, the grain offering, the sin offering, the guilt offering, the ordination offering and the fellowship offering, ³⁸ which the Lord gave Moses at Mount Sinai in the Desert of Sinai on the day he commanded the Israelites to bring their offerings to the Lord.(Leviticus 7:37-38)

The Lord said to Moses, ² “Bring Aaron and his sons, their garments, the anointing oil, the bull for the sin offering,^[a] the two rams and the basket containing bread made without yeast, ³ and gather the entire assembly at the entrance to the tent of meeting.” ⁴ Moses did as the Lord commanded him, and the assembly gathered at the entrance to the tent of meeting. (Leviticus 8:1-4)

30 Then Moses took some of the anointing oil and some of the blood from the altar and sprinkled them on Aaron and his garments and on his sons and their garments. So he consecrated Aaron and his garments and his sons and their garments. (Leviticus 8:30)

We look at the list of the offerings in Leviticus, and we wonder why the regulations for the sin offering doesn’t come first, before the burnt offering and the grain offering. We get the same kind of question when we read the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9-13, why the petition for the forgiveness of our sin is not the first one in the prayer?

In the book of Revelation 3-4 Jesus has some harsh words for most of the seven churches. Why did he compliment them first, before he rebuked them? In the parable of the lost son of Luke 15, why did the Father forgive his son even before the son said a word?  “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him (Luke 15:20).”

We must go back to God as we are. We cannot change ourselves, but he can. Moses put the anointing oil and some of the blood on Aaron and his garments and on his sons and their garments. We need the blood of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit. The spiritual life is not self-help but self-powerlessness. Only God can do it for us.

May the Lord richly bless you!

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Book of Leviticus Challenge – Day 5 – Leviticus 9-10 (Please click on the blue links to be directed to the Readings)

 ¹² The fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must not go out. Every morning the priest is to add firewood and arrange the burnt offering on the fire and burn the fat of the fellowship offerings on it. ¹³ The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out.(Leviticus 6:12-13)

²³ Moses and Aaron then went into the tent of meeting. When they came out, they blessed the people; and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. 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. (Leviticus 9:23-24)

Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, contrary to his command. ² So fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. (Leviticus 10:1-2)

What can we learn from the tragic incident of Leviticus 10? First, authority is important. God is the supreme authority, thus what we offer to him, our service, our love, our money, everything we offer must be authorized. When someone buys an expensive car or machinery in order to service that piece of equipment they bring it to an authorized dealer or authorized service provider.

We are very valuable to God. We were created in God’s image, so in order to function according to God’s plan of love, joy, and peace, humanity needs to live according to the instructions provided by God. We must live a biblically Christ centered life. Any unauthorized use of our time, talent, money will only bring troubles to our lives.

Third, we need to keep the initial fire burning. Any spiritual gift or talent that God has given us must be cultivated. Our gifts must be kept alive by service and practice. God instructed Aaron and hi sons in Leviticus 6 to keep the fire burning, to never let it go. He sent the initial fire in Leviticus 9. Had the sons of Aaron Nadab and Abihu  kept the fire burning, they probably would not have been tempted to offer unauthorized fire before the Lord.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Book of Leviticus Challenge – Day 6 – Leviticus 11-12 (Please click on the blue links to be directed to the Readings)

 ⁴⁴ I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. Do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves along the ground. ⁴⁵ I am the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy. (Leviticus 11:44-45)

^“Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. ¹¹ What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”(Matthew 15:10-11)

^“For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, ⁵ because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.” (1 Timothy 4:4-5)

The more we understand the Dispensation of Law, the more we appreciate the current Dispensation of Grace. The Law was given to the nation of Israel in order to define sin, to show to the people the high standard of God’s holiness, and to point to them their need of a savior. God demands holiness from his people, “therefore be holy, because I am holy (Leviticus 11:45)”

This is an impossible task for mankind as Romans 3:20 says,” For by works of the law no human being^[a] will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” The solution then is to accept the work of righteousness of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Peter could not believe his ears when the same Lord who forbad them to eat impure animals in Leviticus 10 was compelling him in Acts 10 to eat those same forbidden animals.

The coming of Jesus into the world, his death and his resurrection make everything new. Jesus is saying to all of us as he said to Peter, “What God has made clean, do not call common (Acts 10:15).” We need to look at ourselves and the whole world with a new perspective. We are not ordinary, we are special. We have the word of God, and we can pray.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Hello:

Book of Leviticus Challenge – Day 7 – Leviticus 13-14 (Please click on the blue links to be directed to the Readings)

  “Anyone with such a defiling disease must wear torn clothes, let their hair be unkempt,^[c] cover the lower part of their face and cry out, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ ⁴⁶ As long as they have the disease they remain unclean. They must live alone; they must live outside the camp.”  (Leviticus 13:45-46)

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “This shall be the law of the leprous person for the day of his cleansing. He shall be brought to the priest, ³ and the priest shall go out of the camp, and the priest shall look. Then, if the case of leprous disease is healed in the leprous person (Leviticus 14:1-3)

Leprosy is a figure of sin in the Bible. It may seem to whoever contacted the disease would be excluded from the people. ”As long as they have the disease they remain unclean. They must live alone; they must live outside the camp (Leviticus 14:46).” However, we need to understand that the drastic measure taken to isolate the leprous person was necessary for the protection of the greater population.

We must deal decisively with our sin problem. God takes sin very seriously, and we must treat sin the same way. The prophet Habakkuk said of the Lord, “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong doing (Habakkuk 1:13). In order to live the life that God intended for us, we must start seeing sin the same way God sees sin, “an affront to the God’s holiness.”

There is always the hope of renewal when we put our trust in God. Leviticus 14 tells us that leprosy could be healed. Both God and Jesus did heal lepers from their conditions. The healing that Jesus gives us goes beyond the physical to our complete salvation. “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7).”

May the Lord richly bless you!

Hello:

Book of Leviticus Challenge – Day 8 – Leviticus 15-16 (Please click on the blue links to be directed to the Readings)

 ²⁹ “This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves^[e] and not do any work—whether native-born or a foreigner residing among you— 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 day of sabbath 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 members of the community. (Leviticus 16:29-33)

The book of Leviticus is one of the keys to understand the Bible. It is very important that we diligently read all the chapters while we are taking the “Book of Leviticus Challenge.” Leviticus 16 helps us to fully grasp the drama of the story of the woman with the issue of blood in Luke 8:40-47. No wonder she became fearful when Jesus asked “Who touched me?” She was completely out of line to reach to touch Jesus, she was “unclean” according to the law. But she had an urgent need of healing, she had both faith and boldness.

We can reach out to Jesus in faith to get deliverance and healing. Salvation is personal, however God calls us into worship with our brothers and sisters in the church community. Our lives are interconnected somehow, that is why certain issues can only be resolved in the community. God gave to the Israelites a day of atonement when the whole community can deny themselves and receive cleansing from their sins.

We are surprised to see that atonement had to be made for both people and things that were consecrated to God.  “And make atonement for the Most Holy Place, for the tent of meeting and the altar, and for the priests and all the members of the community (Leviticus 16:33).”  

May the Lord richly bless you!

Hello:

Book of Leviticus Challenge – Day 9– Leviticus 17-18 (Please click on the blue links to be directed to the Readings)

¹⁰ “‘I will set my face against any Israelite or any foreigner residing among them who eats blood, and I will cut them off from the people. ¹¹ For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.^{[c] 12} Therefore I say to the Israelites, “None of you may eat blood, nor may any foreigner residing among you eat blood.” (Leviticus 17:10-12)

The Lord said to Moses, ² “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘I am the Lord your God. ³ You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices. ⁴ You must obey my laws and be careful to follow my decrees. I am the Lord your God. ⁵ Keep my decrees and laws, for the person who obeys them will live by them. I am the Lord. (Leviticus 18:1-5) 

²⁸ It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: ²⁹ You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell. (Acts 15:28-29)

We are living in a postmodern world where the majority of the people believe there is no absolute truth. You have your truth, I have my truth, and my truth is as good as your truth. Is that true? For Jesus there is an absolute truth. He said to Pilate, “I have come into the world, to testify to the truth (John 18:37).” No matter what man with his own philosophy may think there is an absolute truth. It is found in the Word of God.

“You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality (Acts 15:29).” The whole ceremonial laws of Leviticus are summarized in Acts 15:28-19. Since we are followers of Jesus Christ, we rejoice greatly about the freedom we find under grace, the freedom we find in Christ.

All of our decisions would be better if they pass the test of Acts 15:28, the “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit” test. We must not follow the cultures; we cannot do as Egypt does nor as Canaan does. We do as the Word of God says.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Hello:

Book of Leviticus Challenge – Day 10 - Leviticus 19-20 (Please click on the blue links to be directed to the Readings)

The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy. (Leviticus 19:1-2)

9 “‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. 10 Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 19:9-10)

The Westminster Shorter Catechism asks the question, What is God? It gives this answer, "God is spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth." God is incomprehensible to the human mind, "he is the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End (Revelation 22:13)." But still, he is accessible.

We know God cares deeply for humanity through the laws he gave to the Israelites. The laws reveal a God who wants the best for humanity. Since we are created in the image of God, he wants us to be something he is. "Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy (Leviticus 19:2)." This is a very serious command, Hebrews 12:14 tells us that without holiness no man shall see the Lord. 

This holiness needs also to be demonstrated in generosity. Leviticus 19:9-10 shows God's heart for the least of society, and the care that we his children need to provide for the poor and the foreigner who are amongst us. Holiness is not only about sexual purity, it encompasses a disposition of the heart that valorizes all God's children.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Hello:

Book of Leviticus Challenge – Day 11 - Leviticus 21-22 (Please click on the blue links to be directed to the Readings)

²⁹ “When you sacrifice a thank offering to the Lord, sacrifice it in such a way that it will be accepted on your behalf. ³⁰ It must be eaten that same day; leave none of it till morning. I am the Lord.(Leviticus 22:29-30)

³ In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. ⁴ And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, ⁵ but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. (Genesis 4:3-5)

The first sacrifices mentioned in the Bible were offered to the Lord by two brothers, Cain and Abel. “The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, ⁵ but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor (Genesis 4:4-5).” Both of them gave what they thought were their best. But with God, our best will never be good enough. Only God’s best will do it for us.

We need to serve God on his term. Cain tried to serve on his own term, a grave and serious mistake. God wanted a blood sacrifice, but Cain did not want to humble himself to obtain a lamb from his brother for the sacrifice. Many people fall into the same wrong thinking as Cain did, they try to earn their own salvation with works, while the only work that God accepts for salvation is the work Jesus did for us on the cross.

For God's will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time (Hebrews 10:10). Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. (Hebrews 13:15-16)

May the Lord richly bless you!

Hello:

Book of Leviticus Challenge – Day 12 - Leviticus 23-24 (Please click on the blue links to be directed to the Readings)

³⁹ “So beginning with the fifteenth day of the seventh month, after you have gathered the crops of the land, celebrate the festival to the Lord for seven days; the first day is a day of sabbath rest, and the eighth day also is a day of sabbath rest. ⁴⁰ On the first day you are to take branches from luxuriant trees—from palms, willows and other leafy trees—and rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. ⁴¹ Celebrate this as a festival to the Lord for seven days each year. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come; celebrate it in the seventh month. ⁴² Live in temporary shelters for seven days: All native-born Israelites are to live in such shelters ⁴³ so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in temporary shelters when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.’”

⁴⁴ So Moses announced to the Israelites the appointed festivals of the Lord. (Leviticus 23:39-44)

Most people have this strange idea that a life of holiness must be a dull and boring life. This is not what we see here in Leviticus 23. The Lord set time apart three yearly big festivals for his people. They were commanded to have a good time in the presence of the Lord year after year. God made sure that the Law provided regular time for rejoicing and rejuvenation for the people.

An attitude of gratitude at all time guarantees the flow of continuous blessings. The Psalmist knew the cascading effect of praise, the more you praise the Lord for what he has done for you, the more he will bless you so that you can continue to praise him.  “I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth (Psalm 34:1).

Rejoicing in the Lord cannot be left to our mood or our feelings. In both the Old and the New Testaments, rejoicing is a command. It must be an act of the will. Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD (Psalm 150:6). Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice (Philippians 4:4).

May the Lord richly bless you!

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Book of Leviticus Challenge – Day 13 – Leviticus 25-26 (Please click on the blue links to be directed to the Readings)

¹⁸ “‘Follow my decrees and be careful to obey my laws, and you will live safely in the land. ¹⁹ Then the land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill and live there in safety. ²⁰ You may ask, “What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not plant or harvest our crops?” ²¹ I will send you such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years. ²² While you plant during the eighth year, you will eat from the old crop and will continue to eat from it until the harvest of the ninth year comes in. (Leviticus 25:18-22)

You may ask, “What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not plant or harvest our crops (Leviticus 25:20)?” God understands us more than we understand ourselves. He knew that what he was asking the Israelites to do was a difficult thing to accept rationally. So, he brought up the objection before they even articulated it, and then he handled it with a promise of abundant blessing.

The command not to plant during the seventh year was a test of their faith and their obedience. Can they walk by faith and not by sight [by feelings, emotions, and rationality]. Can they trust God when he says “I will send you such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years (Leviticus 25:21).” We will see later in the Bible how miserably the Israelites failed that test.

We too face our own kinds of test of faith and obedience over and over in our Christian walk. The Lord says it is better to give than to receive. If we keep on giving, will we have enough for our own church? The Lord says that he will supply all our needs, why do we worry so much? God says that everything that we have belongs to him. Can we believe that, and act on it accordingly? It is a question of trust.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Hello:

Book of Leviticus Challenge – Day 14– Leviticus 27 (Please click on the blue links to be directed to the Readings)

We have now completed the Books of Leviticus Challenge, tomorrow April 15, we will start the Book of Hebrews Challenge.

⁹ “If the vow^[b] is an animal that may be offered as an offering to the Lord, all of it that he gives to the Lord is holy. ¹⁰ He shall not exchange it or make a substitute for it, good for bad, or bad for good; and if he does in fact substitute one animal for another, then both it and the substitute shall be holy. ¹¹ And if it is any unclean animal that may not be offered as an offering to the Lord, then he shall stand the animal before the priest, ¹² and the priest shall value it as either good or bad; as the priest values it, so it shall be. ¹³ But if he wishes to redeem it, he shall add a fifth to the valuation. (Leviticus 27:9-13)

A few years ago I heard the story about a fisherman who went fishing. He toiled all day, but he did not get any fish. In desperation he made a vow to the Lord, “The first fish I catch, I will give it to God.”  He has not finished talking that he caught a fish, a big fish, the biggest fish he had ever caught. However, when he saw how big the fish was, he said: “I cannot give this fish to God, I will give the next one.”

As soon as he said those words, the story went, the fish jumped back into the sea. He was astonished, “Lord I was just joking,” he cried out. But it was too late. God takes our vows very seriously, we should do likewise. When you make a vow to God, do not delay to fulfill it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow. (Ecclesiastes 5:1-7). Your vows are voluntary expressions of love for the Lord, giving out of love not out of duty.

A lot of us before we came to the US, we prayed and we fasted, sometimes for years. We made vows to the Lord. We promised that we would dedicate our lives to him if he would let help us come to the US. Now we are in the US; we have jobs, food, shelter, family and children. We have prospered. God kept his part of the vow. We cannot and should not forget our part.

May the Lord richly bless you!