READING FOR AUGUST 27, 2024: LEVITICUS 15, LUKE 16, PSALM 87 LEVITICUS 15 Is Jesus really the Lord of our lives? Romans 10:9 states that confessing Him as such is essential for our being saved. This means we willingly bring every aspect of our lives into conformity with God’s revealed Word, the Bible. The extent to which the Fall (Gen. 3) polluted every part of our lives is illustrated by these cleansing laws: foods, childbirth, infections, clothing, housing, and, in this chapter, our sexuality. Although faith in and obedience to Jesus replaces these ceremonies, do we consider how His Lordship still governs the totality of these domains? This chapter is another example of a chiastic form: ABCB’A’. The outer sections are repeated drawing our attention toward the middle section, often the central concept of the passage. The individuals experiencing these unclean states must self-report, which points to our own self-examination of our thoughts, words, and deeds.
A. Long-term male discharges (15:2-15). This is an abnormal discharge from the male sex organ. Although no specific example is provided, present day gonorrhea is an STD with this symptom. Another unclean disfunction is a blockage, what is known today as urethral stricture. Uncleanness spreads to his bed, places he has sat, and people he has touched. These secondary infections can be washed and be considered clean by evening. The man originally unclean undergoes a seven-day cleansing period that concludes by presenting a sin and a burnt offering on day eight. B. Short-term male discharges (15:16-17). This is a seminal emission often called today wet dreams. It is not part of the sexual act with the male’s wife. Washing the man and materials contacted will make everything clean by the evening.
C. Male and female together (15:18). This is the normal marital physical relationship between husband and wife. Both individuals need to bathe to be clean by evening.
B’. Short-term female discharges (15:19-24). This is normal menstruation. The woman is set apart for seven days. Whoever touches her during that time, including husbands, will be unclean and must wash to be clean by evening—the same for anything she sits or lies upon. No ritual bathing for the woman is needed. A’. Long-term female discharges (15:25-30). This is a discharge of blood not connected with normal menstruation. The woman will be unclean during this time as well as anything she sits or lies upon. Also, anyone who touches contacted furniture will be unclean until washing himself and his clothes. When her discharge stops, she continues to be unclean for seven more days. On the eighth day she presents a sin and burnt offering to the priest to complete her cleansing.
Nothing here implies anyone committed sin, but it does suggest that our sexuality, a very good gift from God, has been impacted by the fall and needs to be practiced according to God’s guidelines. A motivation for Israel to follow these guidelines was verse 31: “So that they will not die in their uncleanness by their defiling My tabernacle.” Jesus has given essential guidance for us:“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.” (Matt. 19:4-6).
READING FOR AUGUST 27, 2024 CONTINUED: LUKE 16, PSALM 87 LUKE 16 Again, let’s go right to the punchline of this parable to see what Jesus is teaching us. He said that we should use our resources now to maximize our impact for the Kingdom of Heaven. This could include investing our time and treasure in evangelism or helping the poor. We see in verse 14 he shared this parable because “The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things.” This is a rather playful parable because the manager admitted to being rather like most of us: too weak to dig and too ashamed to beg. Even though the master was being cheated on what was coming to him, he had to admire the craftiness of the manager. Jesus is certainly not endorsing cheating our boss, but he does want us to invest in kingdom priorities. Jesus evaluates how we handle our earthly resources to see if we are reliable to manage heavenly riches. If our ultimate goals are wealth, comfort, and appreciation on earth, we are making an eternal mistake.
Jesus makes an important point about a constantly misunderstood issue. The Old Testament is 100% true and was the focus of God’s plan until John the Baptist came. John’s role was to prepare the way for Jesus’s work and the Gospel, which fulfills the law and prophets. The time at which Jesus was preaching was a time of transition between these stages. As part of this new stage is the return to the creational concept of marriage for life. The permanency of Christ as groom to the church as bride is now mirrored in human marriage. Finally, let’s go to the punchline of the story about the rich man and Lazarus. Jesus says if we don’t accept the Old Testament as God’s word to us, we won’t accept His work and words today. There is a straight line from the Old Testament to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Believe it all and be saved.
PSALM 87 This Psalm is an ode to Jerusalem, both the literal city and likely the heavenly city of God. As mentioned in verse one and shown in this illustration of Solomon’s time, the city was built on a hill or mount. Its elevation is about half that of Denver’s. God chose Jerusalem to be the place on earth where much of His revelation to man occurred. Although it rejected Jesus during His life on earth, He loved it greatly (Matt. 23:7). The Psalmist mentions that people from many great cities know God, but Jerusalem alone has been home to most of the prophets, kings, and the Temple of God. Both this Psalm and Hebrews refer to a future registration or enrollment of its citizens: ”You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven” (Heb. 12:22-23). John Kennedy once famously said, ”Ich bin ein Berliner.” Weare marching to Zion.
