Matthew 10:16-20 - Sheep among wolves

We can not afford to have any rose-tinted views of mission. This applied to the disciples and still applies today. Jesus said He was sending them out as sheep among wolves. We are in a spiritual battle, therefore there will be spiritual attack. Now spiritual attack will usually take very concrete forms.

So how are we to handle this situation? We are to be shrewd and innocent. We are not to be naive, we should have our eyes open to the reality of what people can be like, what authorities can be like. At the same time we are not indulge in the same manipulative and deceitful tactics that the world might employ.

Jesus then tells them plainly that there will be times when they are handed over to men and flogged. Now, as far as we know, this did not happen to them on this particular trip, but we certainly do read of it happening in Acts on several occasions. 

When it does happen the natural reaction is to look to ourselves, to think that we are the focus of attack. The truth is that we are witnesses on Jesus' behalf. This, if you like, is the downside of being a disciple of Christ. The upside is that at the right time the Holy Spirit will give the wisdom and words that are needed. We are to live as Christ's ambassadors. 

Matthew 10:9-15 - Travelling light

The disciples were not to take any money, bag, extra clothes or staff. Now we should note that Jesus is not establishing a law of mission here. It does not mean that every evangelist or missionary must not take extra clothes etc. As always, it is the principles that count. In particular we should note that Jesus was not envisioning that they live in want, but that people would provide for them.

So when they entered a town or village they were to find a "worthy" person and stay with them, this would be someone who would welcome them into their home. Once located they were to stay there for the duration of their stay in that town, not flitting about from one place to the next.

The principles are that they should travel light, that God would provide what they needed. It is wise to be organised, but we do not need to have every single little detail sorted out. Such an approach can hamper action.

Nor were they to worry over much if a town did not welcome them. Instead they were just to accept it and move on to the next place. They were there as representatives of Christ, and co-workers with Him. It was for God to worry about whether the place accepted or rejected them.

Matthew 10:1-8 - Sent out

The twelve had been called, and now are sent out with the same authority that Jesus had, authority to cast out demons and to heal the sick. This is a pattern for the way that God works. He calls people to Himself, people who will trust and obey Him. Then He shares some of His authority and power with them. God's plan is that man works and lives in fellowship with Him, He shares all that He has with us. There is never any need to seek to grab something from the Lord, for if only we knew it, He intends to share all things with us (Romans 8:32).

This includes sharing the work of the kingdom. We are not passive recipients of the benefits of the good news, rather we are participants in the work of extending the kingdom. This includes sharing in His sufferings.

The twelve were given clear instructions. They were not to go to the Gentiles or Samaritans. Now this most definitely does not mean that God had no interest in them. Incidents in Jesus' life (John 4, Good Samaritan) show this, along with the events that unfolded in Acts, but now was not the time. We need to trust God and stick to His instructions. This will help us avoid a lot of unfruitful activity. People may put enormous pressure on us to do other things, but we should stick to the part of the work that God has assigned to us at this time.

Just like Jesus, they were to proclaim the message that the kingdom of God was near, and to heal people and cast out demons. They had received, now they were to give freely. Please note these important points: (i) they did not receive in order to give;  (ii) we are not to give in order to receive. We are to receive AND we are to give. The kingdom operates on the principle of giving and receiving, and on the principle of grace. Our evil hearts will try and turn this giving and receiving into a law (and this is where some forms of prosperity teaching go horribly wrong). God gives to me because He loves me. And the more like Christ that I become the more I will give freely to others.

Matthew 9:35-38 - Workers needed

Again we see a summary of Jesus ministry: teaching, proclaiming, healing. All three should be a part of the churches ministry today, but notice also that healing is listed third. Miraculous healings should be part of the life of a people who are walking with God, but they are the consequence and the confirmation of the gospel. Jesus went to every town and village, the good news was for everywhere.

What do we see when we look at the people? Jesus had compassion on them for He saw that they were "harassed and helpless", and He also saw that there was a harvest that was ready. May God give us the same eyes to see.

What was His response? First, what is a common evangelical response? To make people feel guilty for not being concerned enough about evangelism. Now it is absolutely true that we are not concerned enough about evangelism, but if making people feel guilty about it was going to do any good the problem would have been solved ages ago.

Jesus response was to ask the "Lord of the harvest" to send forth workers. As Paul says in Romans 10, how can someone preach unless they are sent. We need God to work in our hearts to produce fruit that will last.

Matthew 9:27-34 - Healing and demons

Two blind men follower Jesus calling on Him to have mercy upon them. After Jesus had gone inside they went in after Him. Jesus asked them if they believed He was able to heal them. 

Matthew is wanting to draw attention to the importance of faith. The blind men did believe, and so Jesus restored their sight. 

However, faith and obedience did not go together. Jesus instructed them not to tell anyone, they did the exact opposite. So again we see a warning on using miracles as an "advert" for the gospel. Miracles should happen, they should be a part of the work of the church, (or the work of God through the church to be more precise), but if we make them the main focus we are straying from the path.

Next Jesus cast a demon out of a man who was mute. So sometimes physical ailments require healing, sometimes they are the result of demonic activity. The Pharisees put all this down to the work of the prince of demons. When people attribute something to the devil it is often their own self-interest that they are seeking to protect.

Matthew 9:18-26 - Faith to heal

The synagogue leader went to Jesus because his daughter had died. Mark says at first she was very ill, then messengers came with the message that she had died. Matthew condenses this into the phrase "she has died". Mark seems to be more interested in the human aspects than does Matthew. The man recognised Jesus' stature and knelt down before Him. He believed that if Jesus laid His hands on the girl she would get well. So Jesus and the disciples went with the man.

On the way a woman who had been subject to bleeding for many years touched Jesus. This bleeding, as well as being physically troubling, would have been embarrassing and would have rendered her "unclean", unable to take part in religious activities. She knew that if she could just touch Jesus' cloak she would be healed. 

So these two people both had faith. The synagogue leader demonstrated it in a "respectable way", but we might tend to mock the woman, thinking what good would touching His cloak do? The point is she had faith in Jesus, touching His cloak was the expression of this. We need to be careful here. There are some "healers" today who offer to pray over handkerchiefs and things like that. Now there are instances of that in the Bible, but the key thing is that it was the faith that counted. We can easily turn the "touching the cloak" into the thing that heals. We need to focus on faith. We must not, on the one hand, dismiss actions which are an expression of faith, nor on the other hand make these actions into religious rituals.

When they got to the leader's house there were many mourners there. Jesus ushered them out of the room. This was not the time for mourning, but for healing. There are times to get well meaning "mourners" out of situations. Jesus then simply healed the girl.

So in both cases the faith "worked".

Matthew 9:14-17 - Don't be fast to judge

John's disciples came to question Jesus, asking why His disciples did not fast, whereas they, along with the Pharisees, did often. John had been sent to  prepare the way. John knew what his purpose was, that Jesus was infinitely greater than he was. His disciples apparently did not fully appreciate this. The One they were preparing the way for was different from John, so all sorts of things would be different.

In church history there have been numerous movements, revivals, etc. For a time they have prospered, but all too often have then decayed or stultified. We need to realise our role in life. What God has called us to do now is vital and is of great importance, it is part of the kingdom, but at the same time what comes next will be greater. For of the increase of His government (kingdom) there is no end (Isaiah 9:7). What we have now is not "it", it is the current stage on the way to the ultimate goal. So what comes next will be even greater and different. We need to ensure that we do not become people who object to the next thing that God does.

We also see that some of their "fears" were groundless, for Jesus said his disciples would fast in the near future, it was just that now was not the time. We need to beware of letting our emotions and limited thinking stopping us from seeing what God is doing. John's disciples thought "they are not fasting now, they will never fast, they should be fasting". They were wrong, for Jesus' disciples were right not to fast at that time, but a time would come when they would fast. When we get all het up about something, we need to watch ourselves, because we are probably getting all worked up about nothing.

We need to realise too that God is doing new things, and new things require new vessels, new ways of doing them.

Matthew 9:9-13 - Loving tax collectors

Next Matthew is called. Mark and Luke refer to Matthew as Levi. Matthew was sitting at his tax collectors booth when Jesus called him. The call from God can come at the strangest times, and apparently out of the blue. The important thing is that Jesus called him, and Matthew obeyed.

Jesus then went to Matthew's house for dinner. Many other tax collectors and "sinners" came along. When God calls you one of His aims will be often be to reach the people you know. The circumstances and situations of our life have been arranged by God so that His purposes can be fulfilled.

The Pharisees were shocked at this. They considered tax collectors and sinners beyond the pale, and one should not associate with them. We really need to beware of religious attitudes, for they inevitably mean that we will miss the true purpose of God. Jesus came to save sinners. This is His very purpose. And if only they would have eyes to see, the Pharisees would realise that they too were sinners in need of mercy.

Jesus points them to the Bible (Hosea 6:6) to see the purpose of God. Now this would be very galling for the Pharisees, for they prided themselves on their knowledge and understanding of the Bible. Jesus is clear that they actually understood very little. This is a warning to all of us. If ever we start taking pride in our knowledge or understanding then we are in grave danger of missing the real point of God's word.

Matthew 9:1-8 - The authority to forgive

Jesus then arrived at his "own town", i.e.  Capernaum (Matt 4:13). His reputation had clearly gone before Him and crowds gathered. Some men brought a paralysed man to Jesus. Mark tells us that they had actually lowered the man through the roof in order to get to Jesus. Matthew is much more focused on the theological significance of the events. 

Jesus saw the faith of the friends and declared to the man that his sins were forgiven. Now this may or may not indicate that there was a direct relationship between his condition and sin. All sickness is ultimately a result of the fall, and some sickness is a direct result of sin, but we cannot say that all sickness is directly related to an individuals sin (see what Jesus says elsewhere, such as John 9). However, when one is suffering there can be a feeling that we are under judgement. 

We also need to bear in mind that Jesus knew what the effect of His words would be, and what would happen next. Moreover, the general view would have been that the man's illness was a result of sin (John 9:2). 

So when Jesus declared forgiveness the rabbis said among themselves that Jesus was blaspheming. 

Now this might seem a reasonable reaction to have, but Jesus calls these evil thoughts. Then in order to demonstrate that He does indeed have the authority to forgive sins, Jesus tells the man to get up and walk, and the man does so.

So we have seen authority over demons, sickness, the elements, and sin.

Matthew 8:28-34 - Beware of the pigs

Mark and Luke refer only to one demon possessed man in their accounts, though they do not say there was only one. So maybe there were two men, but one was much more violent than the other. 

The demons had caused the men to be excessively violent. They recognised Jesus as the Son of God. How was this? It is because the demons inside the men that were speaking. We have one great advantage in confronting demons than we have in confronting men. Men may genuinely not know who Jesus is, may genuinely not believer or understand. Demons, on the other hand, know exactly who Jesus is and His authority, so we can use the name of Jesus with absolute confidence. The demons also knew that there was an appointed time of judgement.

There were many Gentiles who lived in the region of Galilee, hence the presence of herds of pigs. For some reason the demons wanted to be allowed to go into the pigs, considering this a better fate than anything else. Jesus granted their wish (why?), but it did them no good, and the pigs consequently threw themselves into the lake and died. 

The people were not too pleased about this, and they begged Jesus to go. Mark focuses much more on the man himself, and the effect of the release on him. The towns people seemed more concerned about their financial well being than the presence of the kingdom of God.

Matthew 8:23-27 - Sleeping through the storm

One of the features of God that is frequently referred to in the Old Testament, especially in the Psalms, is His ability to control all of nature. Therefore this incident is particularly important in demonstrating the divinity of Jesus, for He too had power over nature.

The disciples followed Jesus and ended up in the middle of a storm. Now some of them were fishermen, so they would be used to storms. This implies that this storm must have really been a serious one. When we follow Christ storms will sometimes arise out of nowhere, this does not mean we have made a mistake.

Contrast the different reactions of Jesus and the disciples. The disciples were full of fear, Jesus slept. After being woken up Jesus rebukes the disciples, asking why were they afraid. Now there can be no doubt that the storm appeared to be very serious. However, Jesus reaction appears to imply that it would not actually have done them any harm. When storms arise in life we do not have to panic. The next time one does try it! Refuse to give in to our natural reaction of panicking, and instead refuse to worry about whatever the storm is, and see what happens! Now, do not be silly here. This is not a call to be irresponsible. The disciples could actually do nothing about the storm, so there was no point worrying about it. There are things that arise where we do have the power and the responsibility to do something, but let us take the responsibilities we should take up, but not worry about everything else.

Matthew 8:18-22 - Following Jesus, no easy option

The healings brought many people to Jesus, but He did not want to be carried along by crowd hysteria, and so went to the other side of the lake. We do well to follow this pattern today, it is important that we are led by the Spirit, not by emotion or human thinking.

There two people came who said they wanted to follow Him. Now in those days rabbis had disciples, but Jesus was much more than a rabbi, and following Him meant much more than just following a rabbi.

The first man was a teacher of the Law, and possibly he saw a chance to promote his own teaching ministry. Jesus warned him that following Him was no easy option. In fact Jesus' reply shows that there are no guarantees of prosperity, something we would do well to remember. We need to pay attention to both aspects of Jesus' teaching on material things. On the one hand we have the assurance (and the demonstration by miraculous means if necessary) that God will provide all that we need, He takes care of absolutely every aspect of our lives. We should be free from debt and free from anxiety. On the other hand we have verse like this that show that the gospel does not give us worldly security, but Godly security. When we follow Jesus we start to live in a different kingdom.

The next man wanted to bury his father first. It is highly likely that father was not yet dead, nor even near death. The man wanted to wait until his father had died. Now we are to take proper care of our parents, but the man here was concerned with himself. If the call comes to go, then we must go. There will always be a reason not to do what God tells us to do.

Matthew 8:14-17

Jesus then heals Peter's mother in law. Matthew and Mark place this event after the calling of the disciples, Luke places it before then. Jesus touched the woman and she was healed at once. Normally it takes time to recover from a fever, but the woman was fully fit as soon as she was healed. 

Many people came to see Jesus who were demon possessed. These people were all set free from the spirits by a word from Jesus. There are several things we can learn from this. First is that demon possession is real, it is not just a "primitive people" making things up. Secondly Jesus healed them very simply with a word. Too often we make a big show of exorcism, when it should be straightforward and simple.

Jesus also healed many sick people. Matthew see this as a fulfilment of Isaiah 53:4. Note that Matthew does not refer to Isaiah 53:5 ("by his stripes we are healed"). "By his stripes ..." refers primarily to healing from sin and the wounds of sin.

Matthew 8:5-13 - Learn the right lessons from life

The Roman Centurion would have been in charge of a 100 men, and his servant was seriously ill.

Jesus asks "shall I come and heal him?". This is quite different from Jesus response to other people, and indeed to other Gentiles (non-Jews). Why was this? Possibly because he was a Gentile, perhaps also because He knew the faith that was in the man, so was drawing this out of him, both for the man's benefit, and for the benefit of others. 

The Centurion had authority and would be used to being obeyed. Now he learnt the correct lessons from this. He did not have too high an opinion of himself, but recognised that Jesus was a greater man than he. At the same time he knew what authority was, and so knew that Jesus could heal his servant by simply commanding that it be so.

So there are two main lessons we can learn from this. The specific one is the authority that Jesus has, and respecting and believing in that authority. Trusting Jesus is actually a simple matter, far simpler than we make it. We need to train ourselves to stop fretting and start trusting.

The second lesson is that we should learn the correct lessons from our lives. We all face different circumstances and situations in our lives, we should make sure that we do not waste time complaining about our situations, but instead learn the right lessons. Two people can go through very difficult circumstances, one will come out with a gentle and loving spirit, the other bitter and twisted. Two other people can be tremendously blessed. One will come out with a very generous and grateful attitude, the other full of greed and contempt for others.

Let us make sure we learn the right lessons.

Matthew 8:1-4 - Leprosy healed

In the Sermon on the Mount we have received a great deal of teaching on the kingdom, now we see the realisation of the kingdom. Note that Jesus also uses the various incidents to teach as well. We learn both by receiving formal teaching and then putting it into practice, and by various experiences in life, and learning from them.

The first incident is the healing of a man with leprosy. Leprosy was a very serious skin disease, and having the disease rendered one "unclean" and excluded from worship. The man asked Jesus to heal him. His only doubt seemed to be over whether or not Jesus was willing to heal him. Jesus did more than heal him, He touched him as well.

Jesus declared his willingness and commanded the man to be clean. Then He told the man to go to priests, this was so that he could be declared officially clean. The man was also instructed not to tell anyone else.

There are a number of lessons here for healing today. First is that healing is a vital part of the mission. It was part of Jesus' mission, it was part of the mission of the early church, it has been part of the mission of the church throughout history, and it should remain so today.

Secondly, the healing was immediate. Now sometimes we make unjustifiable or excessive claims for healing. We must never do this, but must always be completely honest. We only have "New Testament" healings when we see immediate results. Now this is not to denigrate waiting for answers to prayer, this is perfectly valid and part of life, it is just that it is different.

Thirdly, Jesus was not making a big show of the healing. This is an area where some of the church can fall down. If healings are genuine then there will be no need to "pomote" them, the problem will be stopping this happening! The healings back up and demonstrate the Kingdom, and the teaching of the Kingdom.

Finally, we should not be afraid for healings to be medically tested.

Leviticus 27 - Offerings

As well as the required sacrifices and offerings, people could make additional offerings to the Lord. These were usually given as an expression of thanksgiving. A person may dedicate an animal, a servant, or some property to the Lord. It was permissible for them to give money in place of the object, but were usually required to add 20% of the value.

Devoting was different than dedicating. Devoting meant irrevocable giving something over to the Lord, such things could not be redeemed. People had to think clearly and carefully before making vows to dedicate something, and even more so to devote something. There was no requirement for them to do either, but if they made a vow to do so God took this seriously. 

There were rules about not substituting poor animals for good animals. Men will find all sorts of ways of getting round rules, or playing the system. 

So what does all this say to us today? We should be straightforward in our giving. When we give we give to God. So we should just do things in a simple manner, and definitely be on our guard against any tendency we detect within ourselves to be trying to pretend to be doing something we are not. Ananias and Sapphira are the prime example of how things can go badly wrong (Acts 5:1-11).

Leviticus 26:14-46 - Judgement upon God's People

There are a number of things to note about all these punishments. First, they are directed at God's people. Peter says in his first letter that judgement begins with the house of God (1 Peter 4:17). So if we take these verses and say "aha, this is what you heathens get", then we have missed the point, as indeed Israel frequently missed the point.

Secondly the judgement is personal. It is God who sets His face against them. We find it difficult to come to terms with the fact that God judges people, and try and find "nice" ways around this concept. We have to face up to the fact that God does judge people.

Thirdly, the purpose of it all was to try and bring the people to their senses and turn back to Him. This is expressed most clearly in the final few verses (verse 40 onwards). God does not reject them completely. We can apply this to our own lives if we have fallen away, if we will repent and turn again to the Lord He will accept us. We can also apply it to Israel. Israel was rejected, but not completely. There will come a day when they turn again to the Lord, and that day will be a day of great joy, both in heaven and on earth.

Leviticus 26 - Prosperity or poverty?

The first part of Leviticus is full of blessings, the second, and longer, part of full of bad news. There are some parts of the church that preach a "prosperity gospel", there are others who effectively preach a "poverty gospel", and there are still others who seem to preach a "God doesn't really make a difference" gospel. So before moving onto the rest of this chapter it might be helpful to take a realistic, and hopefully Biblical, look at this matter and how we should approach life.

First, it is not true that if only we had enough faith and obedience then we would have perfect health and untold wealth. In the coming year somethings will go wrong in our life, there will be some suffering. This will happen for (at least) four reasons:

• There is still sin in our lives. We are being sanctified, but this is a process, and will not be completed until Christ returns. So we will suffer some of the consequences of this (though God does spare us from an awful lot).
• There is sin in other peoples lives, and most of these people have not even repented and turned to Christ. So we will suffer because of their sin.
• We are all imperfect and make mistakes. Again, God spares us from a great deal, but we will still suffer some of the effects.
• Part of the package is sharing in Christ's sufferings. God's kingdom advances when people are prepared to pay a price, prepared to suffer for the sake of the kingdom and for the sake of other people. Sharing in Christ's work is part of the blessing and glory of the gospel.

So there will be some suffering, sometimes a terrible amount. Now God will use this (i) as part of the process of sanctification in our lives; and (ii) as part of the process of building the kingdom.

Now let's go on to the blessings. We are now in the kingdom of light, we are no longer under the dominion of darkness, so let me tell you what else will happen this year. There will be times in this year when I experience new revelation from God, new awareness of His love and magnificence. There will be some problems and issues in my life that get resolved. There will be some seemingly insurmountable problems and situations where I experience victory. There will be areas of life where I experience new levels of progress and success. I will see more of God's goodness.

Not every problem will be resolved, not every sin and weakness will be dealt with, but there is no circumstance, and sin or weakness, in your life that cannot be dealt with.

We need to look forward with faith, hope and love. We need to be realistic, but we also should have great expectations. Our faith in Christ should gives us hope and strength to live life to the full, and to be overcomers.

Leviticus 26:1-13 - Life under God

This chapter is full of rewards for obedience and punishment for disobedience. The first thing to notice is that the punishment section is much longer than the rewards section! There are numerous ways in which things can go wrong, but only a limited number of ways in which they can go right.

We have no other God but the Lord, so it is vital that we do not worship or trust in anything else. 

"Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary". We are now temples of the Holy Spirit, so we must respect our bodies. This means avoiding sin, treating our bodies properly, and this includes taking rest at appropriate times.

If we follow His ways then we will be fruitful.  The only way to true peace is to follow the Lord. Enemies will be removed from our lives. If we do things God's way then we will find that often things work out in amazing ways. We will succeed in situations where we should not be able to succeed.

The greatest blessing of all is that the Lord will live among us. 

The Lord is the one who rescues us. He has set us free, and takes away all shame. So we can walk with heads held high. The Lord restores our dignity, this is part of the blessing of salvation.

Now I have spoken only of the positives so far, tomorrow we will look at the negatives,

Leviticus 25:8-55 - Let go of something and see what happens

So we have had Sabbath days and Sabbath years, we also have Jubilee years, once every 50 years.

What is all this about? As we go on in life things get out of kilter. Even with the best of intentions, things will drift from the way they are meant to be, things will get out of balance. So every 50 years everything was to be returned to its original owners, and owners here meant the family that it came from.

Now economists will throw their hands up in horror and say this is totally unworkable. Well, one might observe that the current economic system seems to have more than a few problems!

There is a fundamental difference in principle here. The world thinks that the earth belongs to us, but the truth is that it belongs to God (v23). When men claim control we end up exploiting people, whatever political or economic system you have, whether capitalism or socialism or communism. When we acknowledge that it belongs to God people are protected from exploitation.

Notice also that there were rules to ensure that people did not take unfair advantage of this. God is a realist. 

Now we may think that if we follow God's ways we will lose out, but the truth is that a people that follow God's ways will actually prosper. When we let go we will find that we are more blessed, we will find that the system is more just.

We do not have control of whole economic or social systems, so we cannot implement this on that scale. But we can apply the Sabbath principles in our own lives. We need to have generous hearts, treating people with mercy and kindness. We need to rest and rejoice in the Lord. In fact you may notice that these things are just like the fruit of the Spirit.

Let go of something and see what happens!

Leviticus 25:1-7 - Have a good rest

We now get instructions on Sabbaths and Jubilee years, and can see more of the principle behind these things.

The land as well as the people had to be given a Sabbath. The way we live affects the world we live in, including the physical world. In Romans 8 Paul says that the whole of creation is waiting for the fulness of our salvation. The land had to be given a rest every seven years. Now I am in no way an eco-nut, but we would do well to take account of this. Over exploitation of anything is detrimental in the long run. The earth is there for us to make use of, to have dominion over, to obtain a harvest from it, but we are also to take care of the earth. In the sabbath year the land would still produce something of its own accord, and the people could use this for food.

The Sabbath principle acknowledges that we are not in control of everything, we are dependent upon the Lord, and we can trust Him completely.

On a more general level, there is an increasing pressure in business and in society. Sometimes we just need to slow down. We think that if we do not keep on running full pelt everything will fall apart. We even apply this to "spiritual" things. It is not true. The world can take an occasional break from you. Indeed, the world would appreciate the occasional rest from you! Try it and see. You will be surprised, and find that you actually become more fruitful, and more of a blessing to the world.

Leviticus 24 - Keep your lamp burning

Clear oil had to be provided to ensure that the lamps were kept continually burning. Now we are the temples of the Holy Spirit and we need to ensure that we are continually filled with the Holy Spirit. We need to feed on the word, pray and praise always. If we do not attend to our lives then we will find that our lamps go out.

In the second half of the chapter we read of a man being put to death for blaspheming the name of the Lord. Those who heard the man blaspheme were to lay their hands on his head. Ie they had to take responsibility for their accusation. The whole assembly were involved in the stoning. 

Immediately after this we read that "anyone who takes the life of another is to be put to death". Some may think this contradictory, both within itself, and with the previous section. If life is so precious why the death penalty? The key difference is this. The death penalty was enacted on behalf of God, as part of the Law, it was not man deciding to kill someone. Some may object to the death sentence on principle, but I think we also have to admit that there are many crimes where under current penalties justice is certainly not done.

Next we get the famous eye for an eye rules. These were given to ensure that retribution did not go beyond the nature of the crime. 

These laws applied to all, they could not apply harsher laws against foreigners. 
So there are actually many ways in which the Law was well ahead of its time in being "liberal". Conversely many of our so-called liberal societies have laws that are quite draconian and illiberal.

Leviticus 23 - Remembering what the Lord has done

We now get a list of festivals. The first one is the Sabbath. Note that it is called a festival, it was not intended to be a day of drudgery. Now the Sabbath causes us tremendous problems. When Jesus was on earth it was the focal point of much of the conflict between Him and the religious leaders. We seem to go to one of two extremes: (i) on the one hand we get very legalistic, as the Pharisees did, and some branches of the church today do. This always ends up as a disaster, leading to hypocrisy and disregarding people. Remember how the Pharisees objected when Jesus set people free on the Sabbath! The other extreme is to say it no longer matters at all and is purely OT stuff. This cannot be right, for the Bible places such an emphasis on it, God places such a high importance on it. Perhaps most of the church is in a confused muddle over the Sabbath. The Sabbath principle is important, for it demonstrates our dependence on and trust in God. I do not believe we should be legalistic about the Sabbath, but there is something important here and we should meditate on God's word about the matter.

Next came the Passover and the festival of unleavened bread, reminders of the rescue from Egypt.

When the people entered the land they were to give the first fruits to the Lord as a reminder that it was the Lord who gave them the land.

The Festival of Trumpets involved taking a Sabbath rest.

On the Day of Atonement they made atonement for their sins. The Festival of Tabernacles was a reminder of the journey across the wilderness.

Now we do not need to follow these festivals today, but there are valuable principles here. We are to remember the Lord continually, acknowledging our dependence and trust in Him. We are to remember that it is the Lord's work on the cross that sets us free and makes it all possible. God will grant us success and victory in various ways, we are to give the first fruits to Him, for without Him we have nothing. Sin is still a problem, and we need to remember the blood of Christ, but also that God can rescue us from all situations (including from ourselves). This may involve a journey across a wilderness, but God can take care of us in the wilderness.

Leviticus 21, 22 - Rules for priests and sacrifices

The priests were not to make themselves unclean by coming into contact with dead bodies, for they had responsibilities towards the whole community. The exception to this was the death of a close relative.

The cutting of your body was a common feature of many pagan religions. Priests were not to indulge in this practice. Nor were they to profane the name of the Lord. The priests were dedicated to God, their lives did not belong to themselves, for they had a higher calling. Now all believers are priests, so we must all live our lives realising that we cannot just please ourselves about how we live. We belong to God, we are not our own, so we must live for Him. The priest was to be careful about who he married. 

The high priest had an even stricter code to follow than a priest. He was not allowed to touch even the body of his own mother or father if they died.

Those who were had physical defects were not allowed to serve as priests. Now our immediate reaction is to get all upset here about equality rights and the like. We need to understand that this passage is not about the worth of people, it is about the need for a perfect priest, pointing ultimately towards Jesus. At the same time we also need to realise that no one had a right to be a priest, it is down purely to the choice of God. The basic fault of all human understanding is to put ourselves in the place of God, we only truly understand things when we give God His rightful place.

There were also rules about sacrifices not having defects, this again points towards the perfect sacrifice of  Jesus Christ.

Leviticus 20 - Penalties

The penalty for offering children to Molech was death. Idol worship sometimes involved child sacrifice, and sometimes involved sexual debauchery. We can look back on these things with horror and amazement that people got involved in such things. Now consider what happens today with abortion. In this country close to 200 000 babies are aborted each year. Why is this? It is largely a result of our wanting sexual promiscuity without the consequences. 

Consulting mediums and spiritists was outlawed. Other sins include cursing our parents, adultery. Then a list of various other sexual sins. The penalty for many of these was death. 

These matters were treated with the utmost seriousness, hence the death penalty. We need to be aware that sexual immorality is utterly destructive.

Leviticus 19 - Rules for a good society

Be holy because I am holy. We were made in the image of God, so we are to be like God. This is our purpose and our destiny.

However, this is not some airy fairy notion, but something that has very practical consequences in all aspects of life. So we now get a collection of various laws.

First there is a reiteration of some of the things contained within the ten commandments. We are to honour our parents, to observe the Sabbath and not to worship idols.

In today's society there is an obsession with squeezing the last ounce of efficiency out of everything. This is ungodly! For here God tells them not to go right to the edge of fields, or go over the vineyard a second time. Now we are to do things well, but trying to squeeze the last penny out of everything is a mistake. It is part of the reason for the current financial crisis, it is one of the reasons why so many of our systems (health service etc) do not work well. Trying to be too efficient results in inefficiency.

There are then more reiterations of parts of the ten commandments.

We are to treat each other well. There are instructions not to treat the blind badly.

There is to be justice, with proper concern for the poor.

Verse 17 tells us not to hate someone in our heart. So we see that the Law was not just concerned with outward appearance, and in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus was getting back to the heart of the Law. In the same vein verse 18 tells us not bear grudges, but to love our neighbour. So loving our neighbour involves loving our enemy.

There are then various laws about honesty, respecting the old, and foreigners, avoiding divination, and sexual conduct.

Our society today could do a lot worse than start to observe the sorts of things that are commanded here. God's ways are timeless. People sometimes say that things have changed and the Biblical commands are outdated. Nothing could be further from the truth. If we were truly wise we would start to reapply these laws.

Leviticus 17, 18 - Sacrifices and forbidden sexual practices

All sacrifices had to be brought to the tent of meeting, not just sacrificed anywhere they liked. In fact if someone made a sacrifice in some other place they were guilty and were to be cut off from the people. Today there is a lot of talk about "spirituality" and "faith", and a tendency to think that any form of "spirituality" or "faith" has value. It does not. Faith and spirituality are of value only if they are faith in Christ and Godly spirituality. 

Why were there commands against these things? Because the people had been offering things to goat idols and prostituting themselves. Wrong sorts of "spirituality" lead to wrong sorts of behaviour.

There have already been some instructions against eating blood, now we get more specific about the reason, namely that the life is in the blood, and it was for atonement.

Chapter 18 lists a whole load of forbidden sexual practices. The Israelites were to be different from other people, they were not to follow the sexual practices of the other people. Likewise we must not follow the immorality of the present age. 

If we keep the Lord's commands we will live by them. God's commands are not arbitrary, but will bring life.

First there is prohibition on sexual relations with close relatives, something that is still observed today.

Then there are prohibitions on sacrificing children. We need to be very wary today about the increasing sexualisation of children, it is wrong and destructive.

Homesexual acts are forbidden. Whatever the laws of the land might say, the Bible is clear that homosexual acts are wrong.

Sex acts with animals are also forbidden.

Sexual immorality defiles a people and defiles a nation. It matters, and we should pray for the nation that we live in.

Leviticus 16 - Atonement

It is the Lord who decides who and how we should approach Him. If you listen to debates and questions from atheists and agnostics you will often hear things that presume we can decide how to approach God. It is up to God, not us.

Aaron had seen the consequences of going against God's ways with the death of his two sons. First he had to make a sacrifice. Then he had to put on the sacred clothes, having washed himself beforehand. For us, this means we have to rely on the blood of Jesus to pay for our sin, we need to repent, and we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Next there was the scapegoat. One was chosen by lots from two. This showed that it was God, not man, who chose the sacrifice.

Aaron had to sprinkle the blood from the sacrificial bull with his finger. So again we see an intimate connection between Aaron and the sacrifice.

The scapegoat was to take all the peoples sins. Aaron had to confess the peoples' sins over the goat. The goat would then carry away all the sins of the people. Now of course the goat had no such effect, but was pointing the way forward to the One who would truly take our sins away. Jesus has taken our sins away. We need no longer be burdened by guilt.

Leviticus 15 - Discharges and other delights

It wasn't just women who could become unclean via bodily discharges, it affected men too. The common view seems to be that the discharges in v 2-12 referred to those from a man's sexual organs, gonorrhoea possibly being one concern. Such a man was in danger of rendering anything that he touched as unclean. Again, there are obvious hygiene reasons for some of the rules. We can, however, take a wider view as well. When a politician or similar person (if you accept the premise that politicians are human, which some may doubt) has an affair there is always the view proffered that "as long as he is good at his job it doesn't matter". This is nonsense. We cannot compartmentalise our lives, our spiritual state affects all that we do, whether for good or evil.

Next in this delightful chapter we come to emissions of semen. It seems that this includes both emissions during sex and other emissions. These other emissions may include nocturnal emissions and masturbation. No sacrifice was needed for this uncleanness, this was also the case for menstruation. This is a further reminder that uncleanness and sin were not synonymous. Bathing was all that was required.

A woman's period comes next, and, as was just mentioned, no sacrifice was required. 

This is then followed by regulations for abnormal flows of blood from a woman.

If nothing else, this chapter proves that God is far less squeamish and far less reticent about talking about some of these things than we sometimes are.

Leviticus 13, 14 - Don't get mouldy!

We have two chapters here that deal with skin diseases and household mould. Our first reaction may well be what is this doing in the Bible? 

With the skin diseases there is an emphasis on uncleanness, but there also to seem to be obvious health benefits as well. There would be a concern with leprosy in particular. There was also concern about various boils. In all these cases the priest gave the problem time to develop so that they could determine whether or not it was serious. With problems that we all have some are things that will just go away in time, others are much more serious. We do not need to treat every single failing or even every single sin as if it was the end of the world needing full scale exorcism or something to deal with. Somethings will just be transitory, but things that persist do need to be dealt with.

Next we turn to fabrics going mouldy. The prime concern was whether or not the mould had spread and was deep rooted. Again, this is relevant with sin and failings. Sometimes the best approach is "just get over it", at other times the matter is more widespread or deep rooted and needs closer attention.

Similar rules applied to moulds within houses.

Your Government needs your prayers

A little new year message for you.

Whatever part of the world you live in your country is facing great risks this year, whether political, social, racial, religious conflict, or economic. Here in the West the whole economic system is still on a knife edge.

Whatever the political colours of your government, they do not know what to do. They do not have the wisdom or power within themselves to handle the situations they face.

So we must pray. We must set aside our own political leanings and pray. For if the party you tend to support has recently gained power, they do not have the power in themselves to handle the situation. If you support the opposition do not imagine that a simple change of government would solve things.

We must pray.

If we look in the Bible we see that God can work through all sorts of governments. In Egypt God placed a godly man, Joseph, in the right place at the right time to give wisdom.

At another time, Nebuchadnezzar was in power. He was one of the most godless and evil rulers there could be. Babylon had crushed God's people. Yet God spoke to this man. And again God had placed godly men of wisdom in key positions, in the form of Daniel and his friends (read all about it in Daniel). 

No matter how much you may despair of your government, God is greater, and God can even speak to them. We must pray.

Pray for governments that you do not like. If you are a Euro-sceptic then pray for the EU. If you are a Republican then pray for Obama. Pray for the Russian and Chinese governments.

Whatever else we do this year, pray.

Leviticus 12 - Purification after childbirth

Chapter 12 details how long a woman was unclean for after childbirth, and instructions for circumcision of a male child. The latter is in accordance with the instructions given to Abraham. All this seems very strange to us. Why should giving birth make a woman unclean. Verse 7 seems to indicate that it is the flow of blood that is the reason. Blood is precious. They were not allowed to eat anything that contained blood, and maybe it is the association with blood that is the crux of the matter. here. Everything is looking forward to the shedding of blood by Jesus that would bring salvation to all who believe. 

Note that the blood did not make the woman sinful, being unclean is not the same as being sinful.