TODAY’S READING: LEVITICUS 17-20
OVERVIEW:
God forbidsIsraelfrom worshiping other gods and eating blood; laws protecting the sanctity of sex; the declaration of civil laws.
HIGHLIGHTS & INSIGHTS:
In these chapters, God teaches us that the character of a society is a reflection of the character of her people. In other words, our private lives determine our public welfare. For example, how could HIV have become a worldwide pandemic if every human being would have obeyed God’s commands regarding the sanctity of sex? Our nation is a chaotic cauldron of contradictions. We sit in shock when the nightly news tells us of a mother (Andrea Yates) who has drowned her own children, or a man who has shot his wife, or a child that is abused, while at the same time, we sit idly by while our judges undercut our legal system and their own power by denying the presence of the Ten Commandments in the courtroom. If morality is relative then upon what basis does a judge pronounce someone guilty? The foundation of our society’s laws is the Bible and the absolute truth declared therein. If the foundation be destroyed how will our society stand? God guarantees that it won’t! If we pursue other gods (money, sex, pleasure), then we will be cut off from our biblical heritage and lost in indecisive (Lev. 17:1-7). If we demote life to nothing more than a chemical composition (abortion, cloning) God will set His face against us (Lev.17:10-14). If we ignore the sacredness of sex, we are, by default, attacking the sacredness of humanity (see I Cor. 6:18; consider how pornography, in the mind of those addicted to it, turns (women/men) into something subhuman, a tool or toy without a mind or feelings). In general, when we reject God’s call to personal holiness, our society can go nowhere but down.
The moral of the story is that all of us are holy (holy means “set apart”) to someone or something. We are either holy to God or holy to sin. You cannot serve two masters (Matt.6:24). “And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the LORD am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine” (Lev.20:26).
CHRIST IS REVEALED:
As the HOLY WORD OF GOD that protects our private and public lives from rampant wickedness. – Lev. 20:8 (Jn. 1:1, 2, 14; Rev. 19:13)