July 15th, 2011 by Kristi Stephens

Yesterday we started discussing some of the reasons for the Mosaic law – it did not demand perfection, but rather assumed imperfection. It was astonishingly gracious as a holy God desired to dwell among sinful mankind and have a relationship with them.

Now, we’re going to focus in on a phrase that occurs over and over throughout the Old Testament narratives and law, and is noticeably frequent in Leviticus 18-20:

I am the Lord.

Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.
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. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God.
Do not steal. Do not lie. Do not deceive one another.
Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God. I am the LORD.
Do not defraud your neighbor or rob him. Do not hold back the wages of a hired man overnight.
Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God. I am the LORD.
Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.
Do not go about spreading slander among your people.
Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life. I am the LORD.
Do not hate your brother in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in his guilt.
Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.

Leviticus 19:2b, 19:9-14

Why the repetition?

God was commanding His people to act in a way consistent with His character. They were to be like a mirror, reflecting His nature and ways to the watching world as His kingdom of priests.

In his book “Right from Wrong,” Josh McDowell teaches the idea of “3 P’s,” which I refer to often. The 3 P’s are the three layers of teaching morality.

• Precept – these are “do/ don’t do” rules and guidelines. Ie: Lying is wrong. The Bible says not to lie. (“You shall not give false testimony…”)
• Principle – these are the basic, underlying principles which are behind every precept. Ie: Honesty – be truthful, transparent, trustworthy. (“Put off falsehood and speak truthfully…” Eph. 4:25)
• Person of God – the ultimate standard of morality. Ie: God is Truth. Anything contrary to His nature is sin. (“…a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He.” Deut. 32:4)

Many times when we think of Old Testament law, we think only of the precept level – the “thou shalt nots.” But the law was also instructive about who God is. Some of the laws were Israel specific (you can read more about that here), but many of the laws are moral absolutes based on the nature of God Himself. Sin is sin because we are falling short of God’s nature.

In Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount,” found in Matthew 5-7, He points to specific laws in the Old Testament and elaborates on them. The people had “heard it said” that they should not murder or commit adultery, but then He broadened the statement. Murdering is wrong, yes, but it begins in a heart full of hate – hating your brother is the root sin. Committing the physical act of adultery is wrong, but it begins in a lustful look – lust is the root sin. Even if these things are never acted out on, even if no laws were technically violated… they are sin.

Sin is anything contrary to the nature of our holy God. Our completely righteous, completely loving God. The core of His nature is holiness – He always acts completely righteously because that is who He is. He loves completely because that is who He is. The laws He has given us in His Word flow out of His nature – to do what is right is to act in a way consistent with His character, to sin is to do (or be!) anything that contradicts anything in His nature.

The Pharisees were experts at the precepts. They knew them all, and prided themselves on keeping every detail perfect. But they missed the heart of God. They were blinded by self-righteousness and sin, far from being the holy people they presumed themselves to be. They were so blinded by their rule-following that they rejected the Savior Himself.

If we know Jesus Christ, God has set us apart as a holy people, His hands and feet on the earth. He doesn’t call us to “be good,” or “try harder than everyone else.” He calls us to “be holy, for I am holy.”

And friends – we can’t do it. No matter how carefully we follow those precepts, we will fall short. Only by coming in our emptiness and trusting in Christ as our Lamb of God to cleanse us from the inside out can we become the people He wants us to be. And the next time someone remarks to you, “you’re such a good person,” be ready to tell them: “I am not a good person. Only Jesus is good. But when I trusted in Him to save me, He changed me from the inside out and made me want to obey Him.”

Because of Him… I want to know Him. And as I know Him, I want to obey Him. I want to act like Him and love like Him and respond like Him – I want to be holy, for He is holy.

Will you help me feed hungry babies in Haiti along with World Help? Currently we are at $260 of the $300 goal – every little bit will help! Got milk?

August 25th, 2010 by Kristi Stephens

We serve a holy God.

In our day, so far removed from bloody sacrifices and curtains and priests, we sometimes overlook the true weight of our sin and its consequences. Our God is holy, holy, holy – and we are oh, so very sinful. God, in His incomprehensible grace, has offered us spiritual restoration through Jesus Christ – but sin still has consequences.

I am often burdened by the glib way we approach our holy God in prayer. We have been taught that we can have intimacy, access, friendship with God – and these things are true. However, our God is still holy, and sin is serious.

Read the rest of this post over at Scripture Dig today:

August 20th, 2010 by Kristi Stephens

“Dr. Donald Gray Barnhouse once noted that there are four things out of place in the universe:

1. The church, which should be in heaven
2. Israel, which should be living in peace occupying all the land promised to her
3. Satan, who belongs in the lake of fire
4. and Christ, who should be seated on His throne reigning.

All four of these anomalies will be set right when Christ takes the scroll from His Father’s hand.”

-MacArthur, pg. 170

Do you long for that day? I surely do.

In the meantime… we are still in a desperately broken world. If you’re wrestling with the injustice and cruelty of this world, I’d encourage you to take a look back at this post from our “Understanding Pain and Loss” series – When Life Isn’t Fair.

Next week we will begin to look at the specific judgments against sinful mankind described in the book of Revelation. God is just. He is holy. And one day, all will be made right.

To catch up on any of the Revelation posts you may have missed, you can find them all listed here. For more daily encouragement, come join us on the blog page on facebook!  You can also subscribe by email to receive daily posts sent right to your inbox.

July 26th, 2010 by Kristi Stephens

Picking up from Going From Bad to Worse…

The end of the passage we considered in Friday’s post almost sounds more like a modern episode of “Criminal Minds” than it does a Bible story.

When her master got up in the morning and opened the door of the house and stepped out to continue on his way, there lay his concubine, fallen in the doorway of the house, with her hands on the threshold. He said to her, “Get up; let’s go.” But there was no answer. Then the man put her on his donkey and set out for home.

When he reached home, he took a knife and cut up his concubine, limb by limb, into twelve parts and sent them into all the areas of Israel. Everyone who saw it said, “Such a thing has never been seen or done, not since the day the Israelites came up out of Egypt. Think about it! Consider it! Tell us what to do!”

All of the tribes are outraged after receiving the “message” from the Levite. They assemble together to attack the tribe of Benjamin in vengeance for their part in the woman’s death. After several days of battle, only a few hundred men are left from Benjamin. All of the other tribes take an oath to not give their daughters in marriage to a Benjamite, but then they realize that the entire tribe will be extinguished with no women for the survivors to marry. The solution? They realize that no one from the town of Jabesh Gilead came to help them, so they decide to go up and slaughter the entire city except for the virgin women. 400 virgins are taken captive and given to the surviving Benjamites, but there aren’t enough to go around.

Then the brilliant plan develops to have the Benjamites who don’t have wives hide in the vineyards during a festival to the Lord that was to be held in Shiloh. While the young women were dancing, they each ran out and kidnapped a bride! Notice how they justify this:

When their fathers or brothers complain to us, we will say to them, ‘Do us a kindness by helping them, because we did not get wives for them during the war, and you are innocent, since you did not give your daughters to them.’ (Judges 21:22)

Oh, well in that case, I guess it’s ok. ??

This story is confusing – God apparently approves of the outrage against this unspeakable evil committed in the tribe of Benjamin and directs that Judah will lead the battle against them. This is consistent with the law – as we’ve discussed before, Leviticus states that when such evil was uncovered in Israel they were to blot it out.

It sounds cruel to us, but again, we must remember: God is a HOLY God. It was unacceptable for the people called by His name to act in such utter wickedness. If Sodom and Gommorah were destroyed for this kind of evil, how much more the people who have God living amongst them? Notice, however, that the text does NOT show God giving approval for any of the rest of the story – the mutilation of this young woman’s body, the slaughter of Jabesh Gilead, and the kidnapping of women to provide wives.

The last verse of the book of Judges is haunting and familiar: In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit. (21:25)

In the next post, I will look more at the overall message of Judges and tie some things together. Today I just want to leave you with this thought: what happens to humanity when we shrug off the authority of God and a standard for Truth outside of our own personal feelings and judgment? What does the book of Judges have to say to us today? Please share any thoughts you have!

There are six things the LORD hates,
seven that are detestable to him:
haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that are quick to rush into evil,
a false witness who pours out lies
and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.
Proverbs 6:16-19