Mission Accomplished as we read and meditate on the last chapters of The Book of Leviticus which treats chiefly of divine worship for which God had chosen the tribe of Levi. After describing the ordination of Aaron and his sons to the priesthood, it records the Mosaic laws of sacrifice, of legal purity, of holiness, of vows, and of tithes.
I never knew that the original tabernacle was designed to be moved as the chosen children of God moved to The Promise Land. This was all very fascinating to me and gave me a new sense and perspective of worshiping God The Father, Jesus Christ His Son and my Personal Savior and The Holy Spirit.
To be a disciple means to be disciplined in prayer and meditation and how we live our lives.
God spoke to the Israelites as they lived near Mount Sinai in terms of “when you have entered into the land which I will give you,” and I feel the same promise of God leading me through my personal journey that we call life. But more important the being beyond what we call life, life everlasting in heaven.
“For it is a year of rest to the land,” even God taught us to let the land rest for a year every seven years. Like us, resting on the Sabbath every seven days. Or me resting this year after four years of intense world travel and an inspiration gathering-type of nomadic living. Time to rest, process the last four years and get a clear picture of what God wants me to do with the rest of my life. TROML Baby!
“Every man shall return to his possessions, and every one shall go back to his former family, because it is the jubilee and the fiftieth year,” wrote God in Chapter 25 of Leviticus.
“Do my precepts, and keep my judgments, and fulfil them: that you may dwell in the land without fear.”
Maybe that is why I feel inspired to build “Close to Heaven” up on Prospect Mountain in my hometown of Binghamton, New York?
“I will give you my blessing the sixth year, and it shall yield the fruits of three years.”
God covers us in the lean years. I know this to be true!
“The land also shall not be sold for ever: because it is mine, and you are strangers and sojourners with me. For which cause all the country of your possession shall be under the condition of redemption. Until the year of the jubilee. For in that year all that is sold shall return to the owner, and to the ancient possessor.”
Like my father said in his later years of living life in a free state of spirit, mind, and body; “Everything is Temporary.”
While America is all about personal rights and ownership, in reality because of our temporary nature, we are just renting everything, including our temple bodies. We think we own it but can’t take it with us. Ditto for working for the Lord versus whoever it is that we call our boss. God is boss and brings us home on His schedule, not ours. Ultimate control is temporary and an illusion in life.
“If thy brother, constrained by poverty, sell himself to thee, thou shall not oppress him. For they are my servants, and I brought them out of the land of Egypt: let them not be sold as bondsmen. But oppress not your brethren the children of Israel by might.”
Be compassionate to yourself and one another and God will be compassionate to you!
“I am the Lord your God: you shall not make to yourselves any idol or graven thing… Keep my Sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord. I will give you rain in due season. And you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land without fear, I will give peace in your coasts: you shall sleep, and there shall be none to make you afraid. You shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall before you. I will look on you, and make you increase: you shall be multiplied, and I will establish my covenant with you.”
Sounds like and is a good deal, teaming up with and being loyal and disciplined to God.
“Let there be equal judgment among you, whether he be a stranger, or a native that offends: because I am the Lord your God. I will set my tabernacle in the midst of you, and my soul shall not cast you off. I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be my people.”
Even in the Old Testament, the Old Covenant, God was loving, compassionate and walking among us.
Mission Accomplished, A Spiritual Life in the Old Testament & Today!
Day 43: Reading The Bible with a TROML Perspective; Mission Accomplished, A Spiritual Life in the Old Testament & Today!
Read and inspired by the Old Testament, The Book of Leviticus Chapters 24-27
Bible Notes:
This Book of Leviticus is so called, because it treats chiefly of divine worship for which God had chosen the tribe of Levi.
After describing the ordination of Aaron and his sons to the priesthood, it records the Mosaic laws of sacrifice, of legal purity, of holiness, of vows, and of tithes.
Leviticus Chapter 24: Oil for the lamps; Loaves of proposition; God orders Moses to stone a blasphemer; Penal code; Stoning of blasphemer.
Command the children of Israel
Being received by the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant
And when he had blasphemed the name, and had cursed it
And let them that heard him, put their hands upon his head, and let all the people stone him.
And the children of Israel did as the Lord had commanded Moses
The man that curseth his God, shall bear his sin…
Let there be equal judgment among you, whether he be a stranger, or a native that offends: because I am the Lord your God.
Leviticus Chapter 25: The sabbatical year; The jubilee year; Food for the sabbatical year; Redemption of possessions; Compassion for the poor; Treatment of servants; Redemption of servants.
When you have entered into the land which I will give you…
For it is a year of rest to the land.
Every man shall return to his possessions, and every one shall go back to his former family, because it is the jubilee and the fiftieth year.
Do my precepts, and keep my judgments, and fulfil them: that you may dwell in the land without fear…
I will give you my blessing the sixth year, and it shall yield the fruits of three years…
The land also shall not be sold for ever: because it is mine, and you are strangers and sojourners with me. For which cause all the country of your possession shall be under the condition of redemption.
Until the year of the jubilee. For in that year all that is sold shall return to the owner, and to the ancient possessor.
The house of the Levites may always be redeemed.
Take not usury of him nor more than thou gavest: fear thy God, that thy brother may live with thee.
If thy brother, constrained by poverty, sell himself to thee, thou shall not oppress him…
For they are my servants, and I brought them out of the land of Egypt: let them not be sold as bondsmen.
But oppress not your brethren the children of Israel by might.
Leviticus Chapter 26: Idolatry forbidden; Blessing for the obedient; Punishment for the disobedient; Repentance will bring God’s mercy.
I am the Lord your God: you shall not make to yourselves any idol or graven thing… Keep my Sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord.
I will give you rain in due season.
And you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land without fear, I will give peace in your coasts: you shall sleep, and there shall be none to make you afraid.
You shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall before you.
I will look on you, and make you increase: you shall be multiplied, and I will establish my covenant with you.
I will set my tabernacle in the midst of you, and my soul shall not cast you off. I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be my people.
But if you do not hear me, nor do all my commandments… and to make void my covenant: I will also do these things to you…
I will break the pride of your stubbornness
I will send the pestilence in the midst of you
Pestilence—a deadly or virulent epidemic disease; bubonic plague; something that is considered harmful, destructive, or evil.
You shall eat, and not be filled.
So that you shall eat the flesh of your sons and of your daughters
I will destroy your high places, and break your idols.
And my soul shall abhor you
And I will scatter you among the Gentiles
Leviticus Chapter 27: Vows; Sanctified possessions; The firstborn belong to the Lord; Tithes.
The man that shall have made a vow, and promised his soul to God…
And cannot be changed, that is to say, neither a better for a worse, nor a worse for a better.
If a man vow his house, and sanctify it to the Lord…
The firstborn, which belong to the Lord…
All tithes of the land… are the Lord’s and are sanctified to him.
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