The One Year Bible- February 29th

Congrats on two months of reading the Bible!  This is a big accomplishment and you should be proud.  We are in a tough stretch right now with our readings from Leviticus but hang in there.  I hope you have settled into a routine and that spending time in the Word is becoming a habit.  Before we get into the meat of the study I want to touch on one of the Psalms we read this week.  Psalm 40 has had a special place in my heart for a long time. It wasn’t that it spoke to me in a time of trouble; it wasn’t that I heard a great sermon about it; it wasn’t even the fact that it was written by David. The reason this Psalm is one of my favorite is because the rock band U2 has a song called “40” that uses the same words. If you are not familiar with U2 you might have heard of their lead singer who goes by the name Bono. When they started out as young musicians in Ireland in the late 70’s, their music was influenced by their faith. You can still hear the message of faith in many of their songs today.  The best way to share this song with you is for you to hear it. Thanks to good old YouTube here is a great version of the song:

Seth’s Thoughts 

The Old Testament

I want to spend some time talking about one of the most important days in the life of the Jewish people.  The Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur, is the holiest of days in the worship life of God’s chosen people.  This was the day that the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies (the inner part) in the Temple and offer a sacrifice for the forgiveness of the people.  We read about its regulations this week.  Let me put it into some easier terms for you.  God had set up a system of blood sacrifice that was to be done for the forgiveness of sins.  Originally it was to be the one who committed the offence, but God in his mercy and grace said that he would take a substitute in the place of the person (most of the time this means a lamb or bull without anything wrong with it).  The people were to come to the temple at least once a year to make a blood sacrifice for the atonement of their own sins, and then once a year a special sacrifice was to be made for all the people.  On Yom Kippur, all the people were to fast and the High Priest was then to enter behind the curtain in the presence of the Ark and the other sacred objects including the mercy seat, which was the covering of the ark.  This is where the blood was to be poured to cover the sins.  This whole event is ripe with symbolism and New Testament parallels.  A few interesting things about the actual event: the High Priest was the one who represented all the people.  His sacrifice was sufficient for everyone in Israel.  He was the only one allowed to enter the presence of God and as soon as he went in he had to make a sacrifice for himself first.  Jewish tradition says that the High Priest would tie a rope around his midsection and another priest would hold the other end.  The High Priest would also have bells tied to his robes.  In the event that he did something wrong, or he angered God and was struck down, the other priests could pull him out without endangering themselves by going into the Holy of Holies.  This act of sacrifice could only be done at the temple and was the only way of forgiveness.  Let’s bring the forward to Jesus.  When Jesus died on the cross the curtain in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.  This was a physical symbol that the Day of Atonement was no longer necessary.  Jesus, who called himself a temple, became the High Priest and offered a sacrifice for the forgiveness of all people for all time.  The New Testament speaks of this as the fulfillment of the Old Testament requirements.  Paul, in Ephesians speaks of Jesus dividing the barrier of hostility, a possible image of the temple.  The book of Hebrews speaks of Jesus being the High Priest and that this sacrifice meets the requirements of the Law and that at the Temple (Jesus) atonement has been made.  Theologians call this Vicarious Atonement, meaning that we are now at one with God because Jesus was our substitute sacrifice.

One last thing, we have seen a lot of blood in Leviticus and we have talked about this before but to a Jew blood = life.  In fact the Hebrew word for blood can also mean life.  That makes some neat comparisons to Jesus.  We have life because of the blood (life) of Jesus.  We drink his blood in communion and that gives us life.  Once again, we see that understanding the Old Testament really brings the things in the New Testament to life (no pun intended).  Here is a picture and map of the temple that may help you get a visual of its structure:

The New Testament

In our readings in Mark we see more miracles and stories of Jesus. In Mark 7, Jesus makes reference to some of the washings we have been reading about in Leviticus. Jesus makes some people angry when he says it’s not all about keeping the laws and traditions. In fact, there is much more to it. We need to not only be clean on the outside, we must be cleaned on the inside as well. It is not what comes from inside that makes us unclean, but what comes out of our heart. Just a small aside here; the heart was seen by a Jew as the center of not only the emotions but also the entire soul, including the intellect. When Jesus says these things come from our heart, he is saying that our entire being is full of wickedness. This is something we all need to hear. We are all sinful and unclean. There is not one who does good. And we all fall short of the glory of God. We are in need of a Savior. Jesus has some words for the disciples about being a servant. The disciples were fighting about who was the greatest and once again Jesus turns conventional wisdom on its ear. He tells them that they must be a servant of everyone else. They must put the needs of others before their own. This was a radical way of thinking. We sometimes forget how radical Jesus’ words were.

Bits and Pieces

We will finish up the book of Leviticus this week and start with the book of Numbers.  The book of Numbers continues the story of the people from Mt. Sinai on to the Promised Land. Here are the vital stats for Numbers:

Purpose: To describe how the LORD preserves Israel despite the obstacles from Sinai to Canaan

Author: Moses

To Whom Written: The People of Israel

Date Written: 1450-1410 B.C.

Setting: The vast desert of the Sinai region, as well as the lands just south and east of Canaan

Key Verses: “Not one of the men who saw my glory and the miraculous signs I performed in Egypt and in the desert but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times—not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their forefathers. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it.” Numbers 14:22-23

Law Themes: Duties; uncleanness; punishment for complaining; rebellion; cursing.

Gospel Themes: Redemption, “I am the LORD your God”; consecration; purification; atonement; blessing.

Numbers records the story of Israel’s unbelief and should serve as a dramatic lesson for all God’s people. God loves us and wants the very best for us. He can and should be trusted. Numbers also gives a clear portrayal of God’s patience. Again and again he withholds judgment and preserves the people. But his patience must not be taken for granted. His judgment will come.  One of the recurring themes in Numbers is that of complaining. It is complaining that gets the people into trouble. Complaining and grumbling become very destructive for the people. Many of them even wanted to go back to Egypt. They had already forgotten that in Egypt they were slaves!!

Have a great week and let me know if you have any questions!!