Producing Kingdom Fruit

Posted on February 24, 2015 by Pete

This morning, I’m hovering over a story Jesus told to the chief priests and elders after they asked Him, “By what authority are you doing these things?” (Matt. 21:23). Jesus has refused to answer them directly because they have refused to deal with the claims of John the Baptist honestly. But Jesus proceeds to tell them a couple of stories. The first is about a son who said he wouldn’t but eventually did, and of his brother who, although he said he would, didn’t (Matt. 21:28-32). Then Jesus tells them another story (Matt. 21:33-46). A story involving a master of a house who builds and then leases out a vineyard. A story involving those who leased the vineyard and said they’d work it. A story involving the master’s son who came to collect and was killed. And, as I’m chewing on it, at it’s core, I think it’s a story about fruit.

I think if, in the past, you were to have asked me why the tenants abused the master’s servants and killed the masters son, I would might have responded, greed. Though the vineyard had been built by the master of the house and leased to the tenants to work it, when the first set of the master’s servants were sent to collect their portion of the crop, they were refused because the tenants didn’t want to part with any of it. But something I read in Jesus’ application of the story, is making me think otherwise this morning.

Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lords doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.”   (Matthew 21:42-43 ESV)

It’s that phrase, “a people producing its fruits,” which caught my eye. And, not to over think the parable as it’s main message is the rejection of the master’s son, I’m wondering if the tenants’ issue wasn’t that they didn’t want to share the fruits, but that they had no harvest to share from. They had worked the vineyard, but had nothing to show for it. Though the master expected to share in a certain crop from their labors, they had followed another agenda, and had nothing to return to the master. Thus, Jesus’ application, it would be given to a people producing its fruits.

In the Old Testament, Israel had been likened to a vineyard (Isa. 5:1-7). A vineyard that instead of yielding profitable fruit, bore instead “wild grapes.” That picture of the ancient Israelites was now being applied to the religious leaders of Jesus’ day. The kingdom had been announced to them . . . the vineyard presented . . . yet they did nothing with it. It wasn’t just that they didn’t want to share in the fruit of the kingdom, it was that they had nothing to share. Instead, they had worked their own agenda and not the Master’s. And, refusing the Master’s will, they refused the Master’s Son, masterminding His death. And so, says Jesus, the kingdom will be given to others. Others who will produce the kingdom’s fruits.

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.   (Romans 14:17 ESV)

Not an exhaustive list of the kingdom’s fruit . . . but a good start. Righteousness . . . peace . . . and joy . . . all in the Holy Spirit.

The Master has built the vineyard, the kingdom, on the foundation of the imputed righteousness of Christ to all who receive the gift of God’s salvation. Through His Son’s death on the cross, peace has been provided to remove the enmity between holy God and sinful man. And the vineyard has been seeded with inexpressible joy for those who believe — the joy of not only knowing sins forgiven, but the joy of a hope of eternity in God’s presence. And we have been given the power to participate in all this through His Holy Spirit.

And from this vineyard, the Master desires fruit. And so, says Jesus, He is redeeming a people that they might be producing kingdom fruit.

That His church may continue to be such a people. By His grace . . . for His glory.

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A Left-Handed Person with Right-Handed Righteousness

Posted on February 23, 2015 by Pete

I’m left handed. Always have been. No one’s ever tried to force me to be otherwise. Sometimes it’s been a challenge. As a kid I remember that scissors never really worked well for me unless I got a special kind. There were always fewer baseball mitts to choose from. Really hated getting ink on my hand as, when I would write, I had to push my pen across words that had just been freshly scribed upon the paper. But being left-handed kind of helped when I met a new opponent in ping pong or tennis, at least initially. They weren’t used to playing lefties . . . I had some experience with “righties.” Sure, the world was probably more right-hand oriented when I was a younger, but, for the most part, being left-handed wasn’t a big deal.

But in Scripture, you clearly get the sense that the left hand was the lesser hand. That power and authority were associated with the right hand. You see this in the Old Testament repeatedly as it concerns the right hand of God (if you’re interested and have the time, check out Psalms 18:35, 20:6, and 74:11 . . . also Exodus 15:6 and Isaiah 41:10).

And, in the New Testament, the right hand is seen as the place of power next to the One who rules over heaven and earth. Repeatedly, Christ is portrayed as standing, or seated, or interceding at the right hand of God, “at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens” (Heb. 8:1). Also, in Revelation, Christ carries the stars representing the angels of the churches in His right hand (Rev. 1:16, 20) — indicating His authority as head of the Church.

So something I read in the Psalms this morning made me glad that I was a left handed person with right-handed righteousness.

We have thought on Your steadfast love, O God, in the midst of your temple. As Your name, O God, so Your praise reaches to the ends of the earth. Your right hand is filled with righteousness.   (Psalm 48:9-10 ESV)

The right hand of God is filled with righteousness.

It is filled with the righteousness of His very being. God is righteousness — He Himself is the perfection of His nature. He is holy. He is light. As such, His right hand also carries the plumb line by which righteousness is determined. He is the standard against which what it means to be right and to be just are determined. And all will come before Him one day to be judged according that standard.

But the right hand of God is also filled with righteousness offered to all who will receive it. Having sent His Son to bear the immense “shortfall” of our righteousness, having placed the penalty for our sin upon Him, God freely credits, to those who bow before His Son as Savior and Lord, the righteousness of Christ. God dishes out liberally, from His right hand, the righteousness of Himself in Jesus, who “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). God confers upon those who come to Him in confession, repentance, and seeking forgiveness, not only a pardon for transgression, but a pronouncement that, in Christ, every believer has been clothed in robes of righteousness. For in the gospel, which is the power of God for, a righteousness is revealed that comes through faith (Romans 1:16-17).

For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.   (2Corinthians 5:21 ESV)

God’s right hand is filled with righteousness. And this left-handed person has received it in abundance. Not because of who I am . . . despite what I have done. But solely because of who my Savior is . . . and what He has accomplished through the cross on my behalf.

What amazing grace! To Him be all glory!

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The Brothers

Posted on February 20, 2015 by Pete

To be honest, I probably didn’t approach Acts 28 with “high expectations” this morning. I should have. After all it is God-breathed . . . “and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” And it does put Paul in Rome, further establishing that “this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles” (Acts 28:28).

And, to be sure, there’s some pretty amazing stuff that happens in the first part of the chapter. Paul, and all who were on board, survive a horrendous time at sea and then a hairy shipwreck. They end up on the island of Malta and are shown “unusual kindness” by the native people. As they warm themselves by a fire, Paul is bitten by a poisonous viper (talk about your terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day!), but is unaffected and, as such, is exalted by the native people as a god. And the gospel spreads. Not you’re everyday happenings.

But as I read through the chapter, Dr. Luke’s meticulous account of events, it seemed a bit anti-climatic. However, as is often the case, I was surprised by a simple phrase which stood out unexpectedly this morning. One that caught my eye and warmed my heart.

And so we came to Rome. And the brothers there, when they heard about us, came as far as the Forum of Appius and Three Taverns to meet us. On seeing them, Paul thanked God and took courage.   (Acts 28:14b-15 ESV)

To say it had been a trip and a half would be an understatement. Since being put on the boat for Italy, Paul and those permitted to travel with him, Luke and Aristarchus, hadn’t had a lot of likeminded people around them. Seamen, Roman centurions, and prisoners don’t necessarily make for the warmest fellowship. And it wasn’t like they were going on some vacation cruise. Then throw in a crazy helmsman who felt like he needed to make up for lost time. And you have the makings a very, very rough trip. Throw in a shipwreck and a snake bite and I’m thinking Paul & Co. were ready for some recharging. Enter “the brothers.”

No matter how “profitable” a grueling ministry trip may have been . . . even when God has shown Himself faithful during the storm . . . there is nothing like connecting with other believers to evoke praise and build up a saint.

Paul saw the brothers, some who had traveled a fair distance to be with him, and he took courage. Though the outer man had been through the ringer, just the presence of other believers was enough to restore confidence and boldness within the faithful apostle. An opportunity to share the things of Christ together . . . to trade stories of how God was at work . . . all serving to renew the inner man of Paul and his traveling companions.

And I can’t help but think that’s how Sundays should be. For many, they have spent a week amidst people who need Christ but have little interest in the things of the kingdom. And, for some, they’ve been riding the waves of their own storms, uncertain if the ship is going to hold together for another week. But walk in those doors . . . start mingling with the family of God . . . and there’s something there that should work revival within the soul. That something is the brothers . . . and the sisters too. And on seeing them, we should thank God. As we come together, it should serve as a respite from the turbulence of life and the storms of adversity. A calm bay where our anchor is again sunk deep . . . a rock solid place where the certainty of things hoped for is renewed. Where confidence is rebuilt. Where joy is restored.

May it be so among the people of God.

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.    (Hebrews 10:24-25 ESV)

All because of grace. All for His glory.

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Eyes Opened Wide

Posted on February 19, 2015 by Pete

That they would be desperate is not surprising. Don’t know how long these two men had been blind, but long enough to be sitting by the roadside begging. And you got to know that while they appreciated the alms that were dropped before them by some leaving Jericho, what they wanted more than anything else were eyes opened. And so, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out as if their lives depended on it . . . and, more than they could know at the time, their lives did depend on it.

And so they cried out repeatedly, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” They might have addressed anyone worthy of honor as “Lord.” But there would be but one they would address as “Son of David” — that title reserved for God’s Holy Anointed One . . . the Messiah. The Promised One . . . the Deliverer of God’s people. They had heard enough talk along that road concerning Jesus of Nazareth that they had come to believe, as some had said Jesus claimed, that He was the Messiah. And so they cried out to Israel’s Deliverer for a bit of their own deliverance.

And Jesus, compelled by compassion, touched their eyes, “and immediately they recovered their sight and followed Him” (Matthew 20:29-34).

That they followed Him, seems to me, was further evidence of their faith. But what they would soon see with their newly functioning optical systems was more than they could have bargained for. Some things you don’t want to see. But that’s what happens when you’re given eyes opened wide.

Just before recording this incident, Matthew chronicles a conversation Jesus had with His disciples. It was a conversation that Jesus has had before with His disciples, a conversation concerning His death. But this one was the most detailed, the most graphic, perhaps the most disturbing . . .

“See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and He will be raised on the third day.”   (Matthew 20:18-19 ESV)

Before this Jesus had hinted at His death (Matt. 12:40). And He had spoken of an impending time of suffering, and of being delivered over to the hands of men to be killed (Matt. 17:12, 22). But this was the first time He spoke of flogging and crucifixion. And it occurs to me that these two formerly blind guys who had become followers of Jesus were soon to see something that may have caused them to wish that their eyes had never been opened.

A little over a week after having received their sight, I imagine them there, at that place called Golgotha, staring in horror as their Sight-Giver is hung before them. His body so beaten, His face so marred, that He is almost beyond recognition. The Son of David, who had directed the power of heaven towards healing their eyes, now hung seemingly helpless before a jeering crowd. “Father, forgive them,” He pleads before heaven. “My God, My God why have You forsaken Me,” He cries into the darkness. “It is finished,” He shouts with a victorious shout. “Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit,” as He breathes His last.

And whether they saw it then, or later, they would come to know that His suffering was for them. That it was their sin that compelled the Son of David to take upon Himself the wrath of God. That, because of their transgression and iniquity, the prophesied King of Heaven would come first as the once-for-all sacrificial Lamb of God. That the horror of His death would be matched only by the horror of their realization of the depths of their own depravity and rebellion before the God of All Creation.

Maybe they should have been careful what they asked for when they asked for their sight. What they saw was probably more than they wanted to see. But see it they did. His death on the cross. The realization of the depths of their sin that put Him there. All because of eyes opened wide.

But, I’m guessing, they wouldn’t change a thing. For they also saw their redemption. The gift of God graciously poured out on a needy world. And, just as He had said, Christ rose from the grave on the third day. And, as He promised, they knew, just knew, they would see Him again, the Son of David, in all His glory and majesty.

All because of eyes opened wide.

By His grace . . . For His glory!

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Hearing the Rhythm

Posted on February 18, 2015 by Pete

I finished today’s reading in Leviticus 18 through 20 and sat back. While I couldn’t remember all the detail of what I had just read, the rhythm of the passage continued to pound in my head and in my heart. If this were a symphony then the underlying melodic theme would be unmistakable. Twenty-five times in ninety-four verses . . . more than one out of every four . . . rings the clarion, calling all with ears to hear to know the underlying principle behind the many commandments. The trumpet sounds, again and again, “I am the LORD!”

God speaks to Moses and, in turn, directs him to relay to the congregation of the people of Israel the commands they are to obey. For the most part, these commands are in the “thou shall not” category. Behaviors and acts that characterized Egypt, the land they had left, and the Canaanites, the people they were about to dispossess. “You shall not walk in their statutes,” says the LORD, “You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the LORD your God” (Lev. 18:1-4).

And so goes the back beat . . . and so is established the rhythm . . . and so is repeated the symphonic theme . . . I am the LORD.

Again and again, “thou shall not” after “thou shall not,” the people are brought back to the overarching reason for God’s command that they be not like the people of the nations around them, “I am the LORD.” And with that, the associated implication is pronounced three times.

Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy. . . .

Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the LORD your God. . . .

You shall be holy to Me, for I the LORD am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine.      (Leviticus 19:2, 20:7, 20:26 ESV)

God had chosen them to be His people. God had separated them to Himself. Delivering them from Egypt, the old world that had enslaved them, that world that was behind them. About to drive out the inhabitants of Canaan, that they might live under heaven’s rule and economy and not be soiled by the world in front of them. And their’s was to be holy . . . just as their God is holy. And thus the back beat. Thus the rhythm. Thus the theme.

Less about checking the box of all that they didn’t do, it was about ever being drawn towards being who they were and reflecting Whose they were. To be continually reminded that “I am the LORD” . . . to, again and again, consider Jehovah, the “self-existing One,” the “I AM.” By ever keeping that rhythm pounding in their head and heart, they would stay focused on being the people God had call them to be. They would desire holiness as long as they remembered that He is holy.

So too would be those of the New Covenant. Those who, by grace, have been called to be the people of God:

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”    (1Peter 1:14-16 ESV)

Desiring to be holy. Not that we might be accepted by God, but because we have been accepted by God . . . through the work of the cross . . . because of the once-for-all sacrifice of Christ, the Lamb of God. As, by faith being made alive in Christ, we desire to, because of the Father’s love, bring glory to the Father. Desiring, because of I AM’s holy nature, to live lives that are, by grace, holy as well.

If I keep the rhythm . . . if I get in the groove of the back beat . . . if the symphony’s theme, “I am the LORD,” resonates continually within me, then I will seek to live in accordance with the holiness of God.

By the power of the Spirit . . . through the all sufficient grace poured out by the Son . . . and for the everlasting glory of the Father . . .

Amen?

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Azazel

Posted on February 17, 2015 by Pete

I’m not quite sure why I got stuck on it, but I did. I know that I’ve noticed this difference in translations before. The word is only used four times in Scripture . . . all here in Leviticus 16 . . . and the ESV is the “contrary one.” Every other translation renders the word “scapegoat” . . . the ESV keeps with the original word, capitalizes it, and renders it as a place, Azazel. A footnote in the ESV qualifies their translation this way, “The meaning of Azazel is uncertain; possibly the name of a place or a demon, traditionally a scapegoat.” Not helpful.

Honestly, I prefer the rendering, “scapegoat,” over “Azazel.” Why? Because I’m a Hebrew scholar? No, just because I do. It seems . . . well, cleaner. But then something hits me . . . what does it matter? Whether the original word is intended to put a label on the animal or on a place is really missing the point. As the saying goes, I’m kind of “majoring on minors.” If, after reading this passage, I sit back and stew on why the ESV translators “went rogue,” then maybe I’m allowing the seed of the Word that’s been scattered this morning to be swept away by incidentals. Focusing on what, apparently, isn’t so clear, instead of meditating on what is. That two goats were offered on the Day of Atonement. One as a sacrificial offering and the other as Azazel.

Two goats were to be taken as the sin offering for the people on the Day of Atonement. One was to be slaughtered and offered on the altar with fire, the other was to be a “living offering” that would be led into the wilderness.

Aaron, the high priest, first would make atonement “for himself and his house.” He would then make atonement for the congregation, “because of the uncleanness of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions, all their sins” (16:16). And this was to be done with the blood of the first goat selected for the sin offering. The blood would be sprinkled throughout the tent of meeting to cleanse it from the defilement associated with being in the midst of a people inclined towards uncleanliness and sin. The foreshadow is evident . . . “and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1John 1:7).

But the second goat was to be a living offering . . .

And when he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat. And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness.   (Leviticus 16:20-22 ESV)

The sin has been atoned for by blood of the first goat, the price has been paid. But, even though the price is paid, what actually happens to the sin? Enter the second goat. The sin of the people is placed on the head of — transferred to — the other goat, some translations calling it, the scapegoat, which bears that sin into the wilderness. But where does the sin go? One translation says to Azazel, an unknown, mysterious place. Another foreshadow? ” . . . as far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12). The sin borne to a place beyond finding. A place which completely removes the remembrance of the sin atoned for.

Jesus paid the price for our sin with His blood. And, Jesus took our sin fully upon Himself and bore it to a mysterious place that is as far as the east is from the west. Blotting out our transgressions so completely, and bearing our sin so far away, that there is nothing to be remembered (Isa. 43:25, Jer. 31:34).

Should it be translated scapegoat? Should it be translated as the unknown place, Azazel?

Yes!

Glorious yes! To the praise of our Redeemer . . . for the worship of the Lamb . . . for the glory of our loving God!

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A Divine Dietary Substitute

Posted on February 16, 2015 by Pete

The going was getting tough, and it was increasingly tough to get going. His was a cast down soul . . . bowed before the weight of the waves that crashed upon him. His was an internal, turbulent commotion that sucked the very life out of his inner man. And so his soul was consumed with ardent longing.

He panted for his God as a deer would for flowing streams. He thirsted for the living God and for the restoration of the joyous communion he had once known when he would “go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival.” Though he longed for feasting at the table set for Him by the Lord, his Shepherd, for now, the psalmist writes, “My tears have been my food day and night.”

Day and night. Tears as his food.

But as the songwriter pours out his longing, God whispers into his disquieted soul a reminder of divine faithfulness.

By day the LORD commands His steadfast love,
     and at night His song is with me,
a prayer to the God of my life.  (Psalm 42:8 ESV)

How’s that for a dietary substitution? Tears in the day, replaced by the promise that God commands His steadfast love upon His own. Tears at night, swapped out for the song of the redeemed . . . heavenly melody accompanying the confession of earthly realities, all to the “God of my life.”

No one goes looking for a desert. No one invites their enemies to pummel them. No one welcomes the pricey consequences of sin. But sometimes, one or more of those waterfalls is allowed to pass through God’s caring hands and overwhelm us. Times come when the waves break hard and fast and we feel as though we can barely keep our head above water. When all we can do is cry out . . . literally . . . to heaven for mercy. When all we want to do is drink deep of the living water. But when our food, day and night, is but tears.

But it is in those times that God, through the abiding testimony of His blessed Spirit, directs His unfailing love toward us. It’s in those times that our night bed can be a worship center as we know, deep within, that His mercies truly are new every morning and that His grace is truly sufficient in every circumstance.

And so He substitutes the tears of the day for divine reminders of His love. He swaps out wet eyes at night for a singing tongue. He corrals random thoughts of despair and directs them towards His heavenly throne of grace as petitions of faith.

And with this dietary substitute of love, praise, and prayer for tears, there is hope.

Why are you cast down, O my soul,
        and why are you in turmoil within me?
  Hope in God; for I shall again praise Him,
my salvation and my God.    (Psalm 42:11 ESV)

To Him be all the praise . . . and all the glory . . .

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Amen and Amen

Posted on February 13, 2015 by Pete

Sometimes it’s the most common things that escape our notice. You’re so used to seeing them, that you miss them. But when they’re doubled up, sometimes they will grab your attention. Such was the case for me this morning. Amen and Amen.

I was surprised as I did a bit of computer concordance work. In the Old Testament, the word for “amen,”, which by the way is “amen,” only shows up 30 times in 24 verses. It simply means “truly” or “so be it.” A couple of times it is linked directly with God’s name as in “Elohim Amen” . . . “the God of truth” (Isa. 65:16). But most often it is used as a response . . . “so be it.” And on five occasions it is doubled up. Amen and Amen! So be it . . . so be it! And in four of those five times, the declaration worthy of a “double truly” is “blessed be the LORD!”

Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel,
        from everlasting to everlasting!
                 Amen and Amen.      (Psalm 41:13 ESV)

Psalm 41 is a song of David when he was on his sickbed. And, if you were David, you really couldn’t afford to be under the weather for any length of time for it provided just another occasion for your enemies to rise against you. They hoped it would be a sickness unto death . . . they whispered of his demise. They hoped for the worst for him . . . the rumors were rampant . . . “a deadly thing is poured out on him” . . . “he will not rise from where he lies.” Even some whom David considered to be in his inner circle, viewed his weakness as perhaps their opportunity for advancement. Of them David would say, “Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me” (41:9). (Sound familiar? . . . check out John 13:18).

And so David twice cries out, “O LORD, be gracious to me.” Heal me, he prays, . . . raise me up . . . “by this I know that You delight in me.”

And as he petitions heaven’s throne he knows that God will uphold him for he is reminded of God’s promises to him and that He, who is King over all, has “set me in Your presence forever” (41:12).

And so David concludes his song by blessing the LORD. And punctuates his closing with the double exclamation, “Amen and Amen.”

Blessed be the LORD . . . truly, truly . . . so be it, so be it.

He’s still in bed . . . fever continues to persist . . . the wolves continue to circle and plot outside his chamber. But David has called out to the God who delivers. He has petitioned the God who shows favor and grace to those He has called. He has pleaded his case to the One who protects the children of promise. He has remembered Him who has proven Himself a faithful and trustworthy refuge. And so, it’s time to bless the LORD.

No more to be said. No more to be done. Just bless the LORD from everlasting to everlasting.

Amen and Amen!

Amen?

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Fired

Posted on February 12, 2015 by Pete

Every time I encounter the story, I can’t help but think how extreme the consequences were. They were new to the job. Sure they had been trained and instructed on how to fulfill their role, but this week was their first week at actually giving it a try. Along with their father, they came to the tent of meeting and were clothed in their priestly garments. Moses walked them through the offerings and sacrifices that would be needed to “make atonement for you and for the people” (Lev. 9:7). And they seemed to be off to a good start.

Offerings offered per instruction . . . sacrifices sacrificed as commanded . . . the operation of the tabernacle commissioned . . . the priesthood of Israel established . . . God Himself making a “guest appearance” . . .

And Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting, and when they came out they blessed the people, and the glory of the LORD appeared to all the people. And fire came out from before the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the pieces of fat on the altar, and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces. (Leviticus 9:23-24 ESV)

But they were new to the job. And the sons of Aaron decided to improvise a bit. And the sons of Aaron made a fatal (literally) mistake and were fired (literally).

Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them. And fire came out from before the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD.   (Leviticus 10:1-2 ESV)

What a shocker! It’s stunning, really. One moment the glory of God appears and fire from heaven consumes the offerings. And as the glory comes down, the people go facedown. What a holy, awesome moment. But then the sons of Aaron — we can only imagine what motivated them or what they were thinking — play loose with the holy things of God. And they offer “unauthorized fire” . . . “strange fire” . . . “profane fire” . . . “the wrong kind of fire.” They played with fire and got burned . . . literally. The fire of heaven that consumed the offering for their sin was unleashed on them because of their sin.

And as you sit back and try to make sense of it, your head can kind of spin. For those of us who have been wooed by grace, won by grace, and walk in grace, it just seems so extreme. But listen to the words of Moses . . .

Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the LORD has said, ‘Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.'” And Aaron held his peace.   (Leviticus 10:3 ESV)

“Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction” (Rom. 15:4). So too, this. Thus, like Aaron, I hold my peace and sit in awestruck wonder at that which the holiness of God demands. Rather than be tempted to ask, “Was that really fair?” . . . instead, I see the fire come down — both on the offering and then on the transgressors — and I too fall to my face.

How holy is my God? Three times holy! Holy, holy, holy! And those who would draw near must set Him apart accordingly. Not playing loose with the things of heaven, but in reverential fear glorifying the God who desires to dwell in our midst. “Among those who are near me, I will be sanctified.” Yes, LORD.

And what of the grace that allows us Nadabs and Abihus to no longer fear the fire of judgment. Sure we might know some heat of testing in order that He might refine us “works in progress.” But we do not fear the fire of judgment. The sacrifice for our sin having been made once for all on the cross of Calvary when the hot wrath of a holy God was unleashed on His blessed Son for our, otherwise fatal, mistakes.

How awesome is our God? How holy is He? And how amazing is His grace?

To Him be all the glory . . .

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The Great Equalizer

Posted on February 11, 2015 by Pete

I’m reading again in Leviticus this morning and the math just doesn’t line up. You know, the math that says that if A=B and B=C then A=C. Or, in the case of this morning’s reading in Leviticus 5, if a lamb can pay the price for a sin, and if two turtledoves can pay the price for the same sin, and if a tenth of an ephah of flour can also pay the price for the same sin, then a lamb must be equivalent to two turtledoves and both must be the equivalent to a tenth of an ephah of flour. Don’t really know what an ephah is . . . not familiar with the ancient market price for turtledoves or lambs . . . but my instinct says that there’s no way that all three of these things can be equal in value.

And yet, depending on a person’s level of income, any of them could be offered “as the compensation” for their sin. Sin demands a price be paid before a holy God. Yet, depending on what someone could afford, they could bring either the lamb, the turtledoves, or the flour as an offering for their sin “and the priest shall make atonement for him for the sin that he has committed, and he shall be forgiven” (5:10, 13, 16). So how can that be? How can the same transgression be paid by either a lamb, or some birds, or some flour?

Short answer: It can’t.

For, says the Scriptures, the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). When it comes right down to the economics of reconciliation with a holy God, neither a lamb, nor a couple of birds, nor an offering of flour, is really sufficient to pay the price. So, in that sense, they are all equal. All equally insufficient. But then it begs the question, “If none of these Levitical offerings were sufficient to truly atone for sin, how could any of them atone for sin?”

Short answer: Jesus.

. . . for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith. This was to show Gods righteousness, because in His divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.   (Romans 3:23-25 ESV)

No way that any of the Old Testament sacrifices could pay the price for sin. At best, they could evidence a sinner’s heart who wished to confess their guilt and seek forgiveness. At best they could point to a future sacrifice, one that would be sufficient to appease fully the wrath of a holy God towards His creation’s rebellion. A sacrifice of which lambs, and birds, and cakes of flour were but a foreshadow. A sacrifice which would fully meet what was lacking in all other sacrifice and which was of such a certainty that God “in His divine forbearance” could pass over “former sins” knowing that one day they too would be covered by this ultimate sacrifice.

This sacrifice being the great equalizer.

Making equal the sacrifice of a lamb, or birds, or flour . . . for they all pointed to a greater offering. Leveling the playing field between the rich and the poor, the religious and not so religious, the “moderate sinner” and the “depraved and wicked.” All given opportunity to be justified through faith “by His grace as a gift.” All because redemption is in Christ Jesus. And He is the Great Equalizer.

To Him be all glory . . .

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