READING FOR AUGUST 30, 2024: LEVITICUS 18, LUKE 19, PSALM 89:19-37 LEVITICUS 18 At the 2022 Indiana Annual Conference of the UMC, the speaker giving the Bible teaching explained that Leviticus 18 no longer applies to us because restrictions on eating shrimp and lobster no longer apply to us. This writer will argue the opposite, at length.
This Chapter is an inclusio, a literary device that calls attention to important material by bracketing it at the beginning and ending with similar statements. In this case verses 1-5 say roughly the same as verses 24-30. God declared that Egypt, the country they were leaving, and Caanan, the country to where they were heading had behaved in ways abominable to God. God punished Cannan because of this: “I have brought its punishment upon it, so the land has vomited out its inhabitants” (Lev. 18:25). Thus, these standards were and are universally applicable, not just to set apart Israel as a distinct people before Jesus came. In Leviticus 11 we see no reference to other countries regarding foods. Instead, these are rules targeted to Israel alone: “Whatever in the water does not have fins and scales is detestable to you” (Lev.11:12). Other Old Testament Teaching. Here is another passage that clearly shows the food laws were meant for Israel alone: “You shall not eat anything which dies of itself. You may give it to the stranger who is in your town, so that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a stranger; for you are a holy people to the Lord your God” (Deut. 14:21). Whereas again we see a universal application of the sexual standards in Leviticus 18: “You shall not do any of these abominations, neither the native, nor the stranger who resides among you” (vs.26). Throughout the Old Testament we also see higher priority given to obeying God’s moral law over the sacrificial and ceremonial aspects of Mosaic law: “Behold, to obey is better than a sacrifice, and to pay attention is better than the fat of rams” (1 Sam. 22). Jesus’s Teaching. In the Gospels Jesus points to a time ahead when the Temple will no longer be a place of sacrifices: “A time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem” (John 4:21). Jesus also ushered in the elimination of the food laws: “’Do you not understand that whatever goes into the person from outside cannot defile him, because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?’ (Thereby He declared all foods clean.)” (Mark 7:18-19). In contrast, Jesus called for a higher standard of sexual ethics than the Mosaic law: “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So, they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, no person is to separate.” separate... Because of your hardness of heart. Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery” (Matt. 19:4-9). Apostles’ Teaching. Here is Paul’s view of the ceremonial law after the cross: “Therefore, no one is to act as your judge in regard to food and drink, or in respect to a festival or a new moon, or a Sabbath day— things which are only a shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ” (Col. 2:16-17),
READING FOR AUGUST 30, 2024 CONTINUED: LEVITICUS 18, LUKE 19, PSALM 89:19-37 Here is Paul’s view of the moral law after the cross: “The unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor those habitually drunk, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 6:9-10). Summary: Leviticus 18 commands of God apply today for our own good.
LUKE 19 Zaccheus was a short man in a culture favoring height (1 Sam. 9:2) and a rich chief tax collector who made lots of money collaborating with Rome. The people were upset Jesus even went to his house. Yet, this man climbed a tree, acting like a child as Jesus said in Luke 18:17; rejoiced at receiving Jesus, like the woman finding the coin in Luke 15:10; and was lavishly generous with his money, unlike the rich young ruler in Luke 18:23. He’s a model for us! Parable of the Ten Minas. Main point—Those not growing what God gives lose what they have. Those not accepting Him as Lord perish. Who’s who—The ten slaves (doulous) are believers. (Paul was a doulous of Jesus). The nobleman is Jesus. Application—In vs. 10 Jesus’s goal is to save sinners. What’s our record to show for what He has given us? The crowd in Luke’s version of the triumphal entry quotes from Psalm 118 “Blessed is the King, the One who comes in the name of the Lord.” Luke adds the word “King,” possibly to let Theophilus, his Greek patron, know that Jesus is His king as well. The next words, “Peace on heaven and glory in heaven,” show that the crowd understands that Jesus’s work on earth had ramifications in heaven. The Pharisees didn’t like this, but Jesus said that their “learned opinion” didn’t change this reality. He said even the rocks had more spiritual sense than they. Although much has been written, Luke’s version of Jesus driving out the merchants gives a simple reason for His action: the Temple should be a house of prayer not a place of shady business. Jesus then demonstrates a proper use by teaching there daily.
PSALM 89:19-37 These verses reflect on God’s goodness to David that reaches its fulfillment in Jesus. As you may recall, David was chosen by God when Samuel was led to review all of Jesse’s sons. David was an afterthought even to his father just as Jesus was the stone the builders rejected who became the chief cornerstone. Samuel, representing God, anointed David King of Israel with oil, but Jesus was the promised Christ (anointed one of God) for all the world. David faced his share of evil enemies, from Goliath to Saul and even his own son Absolom. Yet, God always strengthened Him so that he was never conquered. Jesus tangled with Satan directly but, filled with the Spirit, did not fall for Satan’s deception. He set His mind on conquering sin and death at the cross. God said David would call out to Him as his Father. He would then make David His firstborn, the highest King, and establish his throne forever. All these promises were only fulfilled in Jesus, the greater David, who Is King of Kings.
