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Leviticus
8:30-36 “And Moses took of the anointing
oil, and of the blood which was upon the altar, and sprinkled it
upon Aaron, and upon his garments, and upon his sons, and upon his sons’
garments with him; and sanctified Aaron, and his garments, and his sons,
and his sons’ garments with him. 31
And
Moses said unto Aaron and to his sons, Boil the flesh at the door of the
tabernacle of the congregation: and
there eat it with the bread that is in the basket of consecrations, as I
commanded, saying, Aaron and his sons shall eat it. 32
And
that which remaineth of the flesh and of the bread shall ye burn with fire. 33
And
ye shall not go out of the door of the tabernacle of the congregation in
seven days, until the days of your consecration be at an end: for seven days shall he consecrate you. 34
As
he hath done this day, so the LORD hath commanded to do,
to make an atonement for you. 35 Therefore shall ye
abide at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation day and night
seven days, and keep the charge of the LORD, that ye die
not: for so I am commanded. 36
So
Aaron and his sons did all things which the LORD commanded by the hand
of Moses.” Introduction:
Setting Aside Aaron & His Sons For Seven Days Of Sanctification [Audio
version: https://resources.ccphilly.org/detail.asp?TopicID=&Teaching=WED568] “We have come as far as verse 30
in chapter 8. Aaron and his sons being
set aside to fulfill their ministry as high priest, as the priest’s sons, and
Moses is taking them through a series of offerings, step by step. Verse 30 says “And Moses took of
the anointing oil, and of the blood which was upon the altar, and
sprinkled it upon Aaron, and upon his garments, and upon his
sons, and upon his sons’ garments with him; and sanctified Aaron, and
his garments, and his sons, and his sons’ garments with him.” No longer
could they be used for any civil purpose, they were sanctified, set aside for
God’s use now, these garments, these priestly attire had only one purpose now,
it was to minister within the Tabernacle, never to be used for any common
purpose, they had been anointed, sanctified, set aside now. “And Moses said unto Aaron and to his
sons, Boil the flesh at the door of the tabernacle of the
congregation: and there eat it with the
bread that is in the basket of consecrations, as I commanded, saying,
Aaron and his sons shall eat it. And
that which remaineth of the flesh and of the bread shall ye burn with
fire. And ye shall not go out of the
door of the tabernacle of the congregation in seven days, until the days
of your consecration be at an end: for
seven days shall he consecrate you.” (verses 31-33) So for seven days now they’re going to stay
within the precincts of the Tabernacle.
Look, the priesthood is going to be inaugurated, for the first time
since Eden when man was driven out of God’s presence, now God will dwell in the
midst of his people, and he is appointing a sinful, frail human being, of his
choosing, this idol-maker, Aaron and his family, to stand in the place of
priests--to be a picture of our Great Priest, but only in type, for certainly
Christ was without sin. And this
priesthood always had to offer sacrifices for themselves before they offered
for the people, because they were brethren, they were made of the same stuff
that you and I are made of. But the fact
that this priesthood is being inaugurated says to these millions of people,
that God is now dwelling in the midst of his people, again has made a way for
them to come, for them to worship, for sacrifices to be offered, there is hope,
there is light. There is this looking
down through the ages to the One who would ultimately come and fulfill all of
these things. So for seven days now God
has them inside the walls of the Tabernacle [within the curtains of the
Courtyard surrounding the Tabernacle], inside the precincts where he will then
consecrate them, minister to them, “As he hath done this day, so the
LORD hath commanded to do, to make an
atonement for you. Therefore shall ye
abide at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation day and night
seven days, and keep the charge of the LORD, that ye die
not: for so I am commanded. So Aaron and his sons” very important,
notice, “did all things which the LORD commanded by the hand
of Moses.” (verses 34-36) Obedience is the best preparation for
service. Leviticus
9:1-24 “And it came to pass on the eight
day, that Moses called Aaron and his sons, and the elders of Israel; 2
and
he said unto Aaron, Take thee a young calf for a sin offering, and a ram for a
burnt offering, without blemish, and offer them before the LORD. 3
And
unto the children of Israel thou shalt speak, saying, Take ye a kid of the
goats for a sin offering; and a calf and a lamb, both of the first year,
without blemish, for a burnt offering; 4
also
a bullock and a ram for peace offerings, to sacrifice before the LORD; and a meat offering
mingled with oil: for to day the LORD will appear unto you.
5 And they brought that
which Moses commanded before the tabernacle of the congregation: and all the congregation drew near and stood
before the LORD. 6
And
Moses said, This is the thing which the LORD commanded that ye
should do: and the glory of the LORD shall appear unto
you. 7 And Moses said unto Aaron, Go
unto the altar, and offer thy sin offering, and thy burnt offering, and make an
atonement for thyself, and for the people:
and offer the offering of the people, and make an atonement for them; as
the LORD commanded. 8
Aaron
therefore went unto the altar, and slew the calf of the sin offering, which was
for himself. 9 And the sons of Aaron brought the
blood unto him: and he dipped his finger
in the blood, and put it upon the horns of the altar, and poured out the
blood at the bottom of the altar: 10
but
the fat, and the kidneys, and the caul above the liver of the sin offering, he
burnt upon the altar; as the LORD commanded Moses. 11
And
the flesh and the hide he burnt with fire without the camp. 12
And
he slew the burnt offering; and Aaron’s sons presented unto him the blood,
which he sprinkled round about upon the altar. 13
And
they presented the burnt offering unto him, with the pieces thereof, and the
head: and he burnt them upon the
altar. 14 And he did wash the inwards and
the legs, and burnt them upon the burnt offering on the altar. 15
And
he brought the people’s offering, and took the goat, which was the sin
offering for the people, and slew it, and offered it for sin, as the first. 16
And
he brought the burnt offering, and offered it according to the manner. 17
And
he brought the meat offering, and took an handful thereof, and burnt it
upon the altar, beside the burnt sacrifice of the morning. 18
He
slew also the bullock and the ram for a sacrifice of peace offerings,
which was for the people: and
Aaron’s sons presented unto him the blood, which he sprinkled upon the altar
round about, 19 and the fat of the bullock and of
the ram, the rump, and that which covereth the inwards, and the kidneys,
and the caul above the liver: 20
and
they put the fat upon the breasts, and he burnt the fat upon the altar: 21
and
the breasts and the right shoulder Aaron waved for a wave offering
before the LORD; as Moses commanded. 22
And
Aaron lifted up his hand toward the people, and blessed them, and came down
from offering of the sin offering, and the burnt offering, and peace offerings.
23 And Moses and Aaron went into the
tabernacle of the congregation, and came out, and blessed the people: and the glory of the LORD appeared unto all the
people.
24 And there came a fire out from
before the LORD, and consumed upon
the altar the burnt offering and the fat:
which when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their
faces.” The
Eighth Day, Aaron & His Sons Are Sanctified “And it came to pass on the eight
day, that Moses called Aaron and his sons, and the elders of Israel; and
he said unto Aaron, Take thee a young calf for a sin offering, and a ram for a
burnt offering, without blemish, and offer them before the LORD. And unto the children of Israel thou shalt
speak, saying,” (verses 1-3a) Aaron now is
going to speak to the children of Israel, this is what he is to say, “Take
ye a kid of the goats for a sin offering; and a calf and a lamb, both of
the first year, without blemish, for a burnt offering; also a bullock and a ram
for peace offerings, to sacrifice before the LORD; and a meat offering
mingled with oil:” notice
what he is saying to the people, “for to day the LORD will appear unto
you.” (verses 3b-4) This is a remarkable scene. “And they brought that which Moses
commanded before the tabernacle of the congregation: and all the congregation drew near and stood
before the LORD.” (verse 5) Now the idea of being commanded is consistent all
through chapter 9, because in chapter 10 they’re going to be disobedient,
there’s going to be a problem. So all
the way through this chapter this idea of “as the LORD commanded, as the LORD commanded,” repeated
over and over and over. “And they
brought that which Moses commanded before the tabernacle of the
congregation: and all the congregation
drew near and stood before the LORD. And Moses said, This is the thing
which the LORD commanded that ye should
do: and the glory of the LORD shall appear unto
you. And Moses said unto Aaron, Go unto
the altar, and offer thy sin offering, and thy burnt offering, and make an
atonement for thyself, and for the people:
and offer the offering of the people, and make an atonement for them; as
the LORD commanded. Aaron therefore went unto the altar, and slew
the calf of the sin offering, which was for himself. And the sons of Aaron brought the blood unto
him: and he dipped his finger in the
blood, and put it upon the horns of the altar, and poured out the blood at
the bottom of the altar: but the fat,
and the kidneys, and the caul above the liver of the sin offering, he burnt
upon the altar; as the LORD commanded Moses. And the flesh and the hide he burnt with fire
without the camp. And he slew the burnt
offering; and Aaron’s sons presented unto him the blood, which he sprinkled
round about upon the altar. And they
presented the burnt offering unto him, with the pieces thereof, and the
head: and he burnt them upon the
altar. And he did wash the inwards and the
legs, and burnt them upon the burnt offering on the altar. And he brought the people’s offering, and
took the goat, which was the sin offering for the people, and slew it,
and offered it for sin, as the first.
And he brought the burnt offering, and offered it according to the
manner.” (verses 5-16) Now
it says “according to the manner,” the ordinance, the idea is “morning and
evening,” and this is morning, the burnt offerings were to be offered, every
day, at the beginning and end of every day this was the burnt offering, you
would see the smoke rising. Again, in
our lives, with the sacrifice of a lamb every morning, every evening, reminding
us that we should be consecrating our lives to the Lord every day, at the end
of every day, but knowing we can only do that through the blood of the
Lamb. And what a reminder it was, what a
picture, it says “he did it here according to the manner,” to the ordinance
literally. “And he brought the meat
offering, and took an handful thereof, and burnt it upon the altar,
beside the burnt sacrifice of the morning.
He slew also the bullock and the ram for a sacrifice of peace
offerings, which was for the people:
and Aaron’s sons presented unto him the blood, which he sprinkled upon
the altar round about, and the fat of the bullock and of the ram, the rump, and
that which covereth the inwards, and the kidneys, and the caul above
the liver: and they put the fat upon the
breasts, and he burnt the fat upon the altar:
and the breasts and the right shoulder Aaron waved for a wave
offering before the LORD; as Moses commanded.”
(verses 17-21) of the peace offerings
that belonged to him and to his family.
Now doubt, at this point now, he lifts his hand, no doubt covered with
blood “And Aaron lifted up his hand toward the people, and blessed them, and
came down from offering of the sin offering, and the burnt offering, and peace
offerings.” (verse 22) Jewish
tradition says it’s the blessing from Numbers, “the LORD bless thee, the LORD keep thee, the LORD maketh his face to
shine upon thee, the LORD lift up his
countenance upon thee and give thee peace,” it’s that blessing, tradition
says. Now this is an interesting
scene. Here, with all of the people
gathered, they’ve watched as the burnt offering is offered, which is a picture
of consecration, and the five offerings are presented in front of the
people. We can only consecrate our lives
because of the blood of Christ. That’s
the only way we can come to the Father and say ‘Father, I’m committing my
life, I’m consecrating my life,’ he knows that will be imperfect, but we
can do it through the blood of the Lamb.
There is the trespass offering which dealt specifically with the payment
for sin, the sin offering was offered for sins committed, the trespass offering
was relative to things that needed to be reimbursed and paid back because a
trespass was made. They saw the trespass
offering, the sin offering. And the meal
offering, which was a picture of our service to the LORD, and the only way we
can consecrate our service is we offer it to him, and it’s accepted. The peace offerings, or fellowship offerings,
the only way we can have peace with God and fellowship with him is through the
blood of an innocent substitute, his Son.
And the full picture of Christ is presented in all of these things, and
then Aaron lifts his hand and blesses the people. “And Aaron lifted up his hand toward the
people, and blessed them, and came down from offering of the sin offering, and
the burnt offering, and peace offerings.” (verse 22) And then it says Moses and Aaron go into the
Tabernacle, they open the flap on the door, “And Moses and Aaron went into
the tabernacle of the congregation, and came out, and blessed the people:”
(verse 23a) Now it doesn’t say how
long they were in there. It doesn’t tell
us exactly what they did when they were in there. Did God speak to them while they were in
there? I think he did, we’ll see that a
little further down. Just a remarkable,
remarkable scene. They go into the door
of the Tabernacle of the congregation, “and [they] came out, and blessed the
people:” notice, “and the glory of the LORD appeared unto all the
people.”
(verse 23b)
It doesn’t specifically say how, the Glory, the Shekina, the Glory appears to
all of the people, and the people see in the midst of the camp the presence of
God, his Glory, knowing that they are sinners, they need sin offerings and
trespass offerings and peace offerings, that God has made a way, and they look
and they see the glory of the LORD in the midst of the
camp. “And there came a fire out
from before the LORD, and consumed upon
the altar the burnt offering and the fat:
which when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their
faces.” (verse 24) Now evidently they had laid the offering [all
these offerings] on the altar, but had not themselves ignited that fire, and
now as they’re going through the process, fire comes out from before the LORD. What was that like? “and consumed upon the altar the burnt
offering and the fat: which
when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces.” And we’re not sure exactly how they shouted,
they probably praised the LORD, but it was very
serious, they shouted, and they fell on their faces, it’s a remarkable scene,
the glory of the LORD and the fire of God coming
forth, consuming the altar. Now, the
same thing happened in 2nd Chronicles chapter 7 when Solomon
dedicated the Temple, the fire came forth from before the LORD and ignited it. When David built an altar on Onan’s threshing
floor, fire fell from heaven. The
tradition tells us the reason that the priests continually kept the fire
burning was because the altar was ignited with eternal fire, with fire from
heaven, with holy fire. Knowing that,
they always kept it burning. A number of
years ago we got a woodstove at home, it’s a fireplace insert, very nice,
47,000 BTUs, glass door. And cut down my
gas bill by at least a $100 a month, and I loved it. And I would light it up in the fall, and just
keep it burning, and my wife of course complaining because the house got dry,
it got too hot, I loved it. I’d get up in
the morning and make sure I got it lit before she came down and turned the
thermostat up, and I was a little obsessive with it, it was new, but I kept it
burning from October all the way to April.
It was great because you come down in the morning there’d be coals, just
open the flue underneath, stir it around, throw something in there and boom!
it would burst back to flames. So, these
guys here just kept that fire burning, I can relate to them a little bit. It has fallen from heaven, it was eternal
fire, it was something from God, it was holy, it came forth from his presence
and ignited the fire on the altar, burnt up and consumed it says upon the altar
the burnt offering. Now, chapter 10.” Leviticus
10:1-20 “And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of
Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense
thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded
them not. 2 And there went out fire from the
LORD, and devoured them, and they
died before the LORD. 3
Then
Moses said unto Aaron, This is what the LORD spake, saying, I will
be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be
glorified. And Aaron held his peace. 4
And
Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron, and
said unto them, Come near, carry your brethren from before the sanctuary out of
the camp. 5 So they went near, and carried
them in their coats out of the camp; as Moses had said. 6
And
Moses said unto Aaron and unto Eleazar and unto Ithamar, his sons, Uncover not
your heads, neither rend your clothes; lest ye die, and lest wrath come upon
all the people: but let your brethren,
the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning which the LORD hath kindled. 7
And
ye shall not go out from the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, lest
ye die: for the anointing oil of the LORD is upon
you. And they did according to the word
of Moses. 8 And the LORD spake unto Aaron,
saying, 9 Do not drink wine nor strong
drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the
congregation, lest ye die: it shall
be a statute for ever throughout your generations: 10
and
that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and
clean; 11 and that ye may teach the
children of Israel all the statutes which the LORD hath spoken unto them
by the hand of Moses. 12 And Moses spake unto
Aaron, and unto Eleazar and unto Ithamar, his sons that were left, Take the
meat offering that remaineth of the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and eat
it without leaven beside the altar: for
it is most holy: 13 and ye shall eat it in
the holy place, because it is thy due, and thy sons’ due, of the
sacrifices of the LORD made by fire: for so I am commanded. 14
And
the wave breast and heave shoulder shall ye eat in a clean place; thou, and thy
sons, and thy daughters with thee: for they
be thy due, and thy sons’ due, which are given out of the sacrifices
of peace offerings of the children of Israel. 15
The
heave shoulder and the wave breast shall they bring with the offerings made by
fire of the fat, to wave it for a wave offering before the LORD; and it shall be
thine, and thy sons’ with thee, by a statute for ever; as the LORD hath commanded. 16
And
Moses diligently sought the goat of the sin offering, and, behold, it was
burnt: and he was angry with Eleazar and
Ithamar, the sons of Aaron which were left alive, saying, 17
Wherefore
have ye not eaten the sin offering in the holy place, seeing it is most
holy, and God hath given it you to bear the iniquity of the
congregation, to make an atonement for them before the LORD? 18
Behold,
the blood of it was not brought in within the holy place: ye should indeed have eaten it in the
holy place, as I commanded. 19
And
Aaron said unto Moses, Behold, this day have they offered their sin offering
and their burnt offering before the LORD; and such things have
befallen me: and if I had eaten
the sin offering to day, should it have been accepted in the sight of the LORD? 20
And
when Moses heard that, he was content.” The
Sin Of Presumption: Doing Something God
Didn’t Ask You To Do “Chapter 10, “And Nadab and
Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein,
and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded
them not.” (verse 1)
his two oldest sons. King James says
“strange fire.” I think your NIV might
say “unauthorized fire,” ah, foreign fire, fire that should not have been
offered. Notice, “which he commanded
them not.” All through this chapter
coming in ‘As he commanded, as he commanded, as he commanded.’ Now they run into this scene, the whole
nation of Israel is in awe, the glory of the LORD has appeared, fire’s
come forth from his presence and consumed the burnt offering, and now Nadab and
Abihu run into the middle of this scene, putting incense each man in his censer
it says, but with “strange fire” before the LORD which he commanded
them not, “And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them,
and they died before the LORD.” (verse 2) Same word “devoured” that we have back in verse 24
it says where fire came forth from the LORD and “consumed” upon
the altar the burnt offering, now it’s the same word in verse 2, the fire went
forth from the LORD again and “consumed, devoured”
them and they died before the LORD. “Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is
what the LORD spake,” now possibly when they
were in the Tabernacle together “saying, I will be sanctified in them that
come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace.” (verse 3) So imagine this day, the whole nation
excited, the whole nation amazed at what’s taken place, God’s glory is in their
midst, God has accepted the sacrifice, the fire’s come forth from the LORD and consumed the
burnt offering upon the altar, there is some element of excitement and
wonder. You know, you’re just
resonating, you just stand back, in one of those days where you know, God has
spoken, God has blown your mind, God has touched your life, God has done
something wonderful. And in the middle
of all of that, all of a sudden, Nadab and Abihu come running in, and fire comes
forth from the LORD and just smokes these guys, no
pun intended, just consumes them, they fall down charred. And everybody just freezes. What took place? There must have been complete silence. I have two sons, I can’t imagine, how did
Aaron feel as he looked? What took
place? What is it that the LORD is putting in front
of us? Why in the whole Book of
Leviticus is this the only narrative, it gives us a picture of something that
took place? And why didn’t the Book of
Leviticus end in verse 24 of chapter 9, that’d have been a great place for it
to end, ‘and there came fire out from before the LORD and consumed upon the
altar of burnt offering, and fat, which when all the people saw, they shouted
and fell on their faces,’ that would have been a good ending, wouldn’t
it? No Nadab and Abihu. They come in and they offer strange fire
before the LORD.
We’re not exactly sure what that is.
There are places, in Exodus 30, and Leviticus 16, verse 12, that
indicate that it was Aaron’s place alone to offer incense [in the Holy of
Holies]. Would the censer that God had
prescribed? And we at least know,
relative to the Day of Atonement, that was the only time he was to go into the
Holy of Holies with that censer. Did
they enter where they should not have gone?
Did they presume to take something to themselves that God had not
commanded something? Were they in a
place that they didn’t belong? The fire,
strange fire. We know this, the priests
were specifically commanded that the fire that they were to put on the sweet
incense was to be the fire from the altar.
[If incense is the Biblical symbol for the prayers of the saints
(Revelation 5:8), and the fire can also be symbolic of God’s Holy Spirit, it
means our prayers need to be mixed with the fire of God’s Holy Spirit.] It was that holy fire, that eternal fire they
were to use to burn incense. And the
picture there of course is the Church, God’s people, the thing that is to
animate us in ministry, the thing that should drive us, is the fire from the
altar, not other strange things. Here’s
the interesting thing about it, and we’ll see a little more as we read on. It’s not terribly specific. No doubt as the people watch, they might not
even have known exactly what they did wrong.
They were the high priest’s sons, they were dressed in their priestly
garments, they came with censers, they were burning incense. And this is right after verses 23 and 24 of
chapter 9, when they’ve just witnessed the manifestation of the presence of
God, everything going on, and it’s just this picture that even in that kind of
an environment, somebody can take to themselves to do something that God has
not prescribed for them to do. And the
interesting thing is, quite often, it’s something that’s not real
recognizable. What these guys are doing,
in some respect, is they’re substituting the natural for the supernatural. They’re substituting their own invention for
the commandment of God. They’re
substituting their own religious practice for the Word of God. It goes on all the around us in the Church
[greater Body of Christ] today, new Bibles, new methods, doing church a new
way, all of man’s invention around us, and the point is, the fire that
God honours is the fire that comes from the altar. The thing that is supposed to warm our hearts
and drive our lives is that fire.
The two men on the road to Emaus, it says, ‘Did not our hearts
burn within us while he spoke to us in the way, and he opened the Scripture to
us?’ He showed them how Christ
must suffer all through the Scripture, and it says as they listened to that
their hearts burned within them. For you
and I to serve Christ in whatever we would offer up of sweet incense, of our
praise and of our worship, a sweet savour before him, the fire that he desires
to be burning in our lives is the fire from the altar, that we remember what
Christ has done for us, the price that he’s paid, the incredible suffering he
endured, the eternal fire he came under when all of our sins were consumed upon
him as the sacrifice, that God’s wrath was satisfied there, he is the
propitiation for our sins. And we’re to
love him because he first loved us. And
we’re to walk in the Spirit and that that’s the thing to be burning in our
hearts. If we’re not grateful to Christ,
we’re going to go out and invent our own stuff.
‘Oh ya, sure I’m a Christian, but I can sleep with who I want to, oh
sure I’m a Christian, but I, pornography’s cool, oh sure I’m a Christian, but I
can do this, but we got this new Bible, neuter-gender,’ and we come up with
all our inventions and put them in the place of God’s Commandments, “he
commanded, he commanded, he commanded, he commanded, he commanded,” his Word
will not change. It is unchangeable. You and I should be thankful for that,
because his Word to us is grace, upon grace, that he’s come to us and it’s by
grace he’s drawn us into Salvation it says in Titus. By grace he’s teaching us to deny ungodly
lusts in this present world, by grace he’s causing us to look forward to the
coming of our Great God and Saviour.
That he’s made opportunity for us, but it is through that
substitutionary atonement on the altar.
If we think we can play with God and play with his Word and invent new
stuff, and we need to be cool, and we need to be savvy, we need to do all of
this stuff on the horizontal, and we have forgotten about the vertical where
the fire fell from God, which is eternal.
And it’s interesting for me to look at this scene, because even as I
read through commentators they all have different ideas of exactly what’s going
on here, and nobody is very, very, very adamant about it. That’s because it all looks so good, and
because it all looks so right. But
because it’s not founded in God’s Word there’s no root to it, and it’ll wither,
it’ll dry up, and it’ll produce nothing.
And Nadab and Abihu, just, imagine this scene now, they come with
strange fire, fire from somewhere else, not from the altar. They’ve taken something upon them that they
should never have taken upon themselves.
It’s the inauguration of something great in the midst of the nation, and
here comes flesh right into the middle of it, and God consumes it. We see it in Joshua chapter 7, as the
children of Israel are coming into the land, they see this incredible victory
at Jericho, and the next thing we find out is that Achen went and did something
he should never have done, and God holds him up, there was sin in the camp, and
he makes an example. No one was to have
touched that but the LORD, all was dedicated to
him. We see it when David wants to bring
up the Ark of the Covenant from Kiriat-Jearim into Jerusalem in 2nd
Samuel chapter 6, and there as they’re bringing up the Ark, they put it on a
cart like the Philistines, instead of bearing it and carrying it as God
prescribed in his Word, and as the cart shakes and Uzza puts forth his hand to
steady it, he’s struck down dead, and the whole thing comes to a stop, silence,
everybody freezes. We see it in the New
Testament as Ananias and Sapphira in Acts chapter 5 come in, there’s a great
moving’s of God, thousands of people are being saved through sermons, the
preaching of Peter, and miracles are taking place and the Church is having all
things in common, and God is adding to the Church daily those who should be
saved, and there are wonderful things that are going on, and Ananias and
Sapphira come and lay things down at the apostles feet, but they do it
deceptively, acting like they’re giving more than they’re really giving. And Peter says ‘Why are you doing this?
this is not required, God didn’t demand, there’s no law about giving, you’re
not lying to man, you’re lying unto God and you’ve lied to the Holy Spirit,’ and
Ananias falls down dead. And in each of
these places where there’s inauguration of something incredible, something from
heaven, something divine, it seems like there are these warnings posted along
the way. And because God loves us, I
don’t think Ananias and Sapphira went to hell, it doesn’t say Nadab and Abihu
went to hell. It says God’s hand came
down on them. [Comment: within the Body of Christ there are various
interpretations about heaven and hell, to view some of these, see https://unityinchrist.com/plaintruth/battle.htm] Moses when he struck the rock, in Numbers
chapter 20, after 120 years of faithfulness to God, he was not allowed then to
enter into the Promised Land, and God said, ‘Because you have not sanctified
me in the hearts of the people. I’m not
angry, I’m not whacking the rock, I’m not screaming at them, they’re looking at
you thinking that’s what I’m like. And
you’re not setting me aside in their hearts as someone completely different
than that.’ The water came forth,
God took care of his people, but Moses was not allowed to enter in. And here’s that example, Nadab and Abihu,
they come with something strange, they come with something foreign, they come
with something of human invention, right in the midst of God’s blessing after
blessing after blessing, divine presence.
And just, to check ourselves, we can come through a Men’s Retreat or a
Woman’s Retreat, maybe the greatest time at a Senior Retreat, in our lives
where we’re really close to the Lord, and he’s really speaking to us, and we
just have this inclination to do something stupid right afterwards. You’re laughing, because you look in the
mirror everyday, like I do. And it’s
remarkable how we can do that. And here
is a picture that God gives to us, “And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them,
and they died before the LORD. Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is
what the LORD spake, saying, I will be
sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be
glorified. And Aaron held his peace.”
(verses 2-3) We know in Exodus chapter 19, God had spoken
to them much earlier, and he had said this, in verse 22, “Let the priests
also which come near to the LORD sanctify themselves,
lest the LORD break forth upon
them.” And here Nadab and Abihu had
sidestepped the commandment of God, sidestepped all of that, they presumed they
could enter in on something that was not to be entered into upon, and he says “I
will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will
be glorified. And Aaron held his peace.”
(verse 3b) Just imagine how
difficult that was. Aaron
Told ‘Don’t Publicly Mourn Their Loss’ “And Moses called Mishael and
Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron, and said unto them, Come
near,” they
probably said “are you sure?” “carry your brethren from before the
sanctuary out of the camp.” (verse 4)
So these two guys are smokin’ there, ‘Come and get ‘em and carry
them.’ “So they went near, and
carried them in their coats out of the camp; as Moses had said. And Moses said unto Aaron and unto Eleazar
and unto Ithamar,” who are pretty nervous at this point in time I imagine, “his
sons, Uncover not your heads, neither rend your clothes; lest ye die, and lest
wrath come upon all the people: but let
your brethren, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning which the LORD hath kindled.” (verses
5-6) And you guys here, if you have an older
brother or an older sister that have made major mistakes and fallen away from
the Lord, and destroyed their lives, learn from them, learn from them. Eleazar and Ithamar learned something
tremendous from their older brothers and their mistake. Learn from them. That’s happened, and it’s a heartache,
because your older brother, your older sister can be so important in your life,
can be such an example to you, somebody you love and look up to. Well let me tell you something, if you go
down with the ship, if your behavior…their hope in coming back is if you stay
strong, because they know you love them.
And you’ll be the one that gets to say to them someday, ‘You know
what, I love you but you blew it, I’m praying for you, and the Lord loves you,
and you can come back,’ take your stand.
“And Moses said unto Aaron and unto Eleazar and unto Ithamar, his
sons, Uncover not your heads,” they said ‘We would not dream of it,
“neither rend your clothes; lest ye die,” ‘You understand?’ ‘Yup, yup, yup,’ “and lest wrath come
upon all the people: but let your
brethren, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning which the LORD hath kindled. And ye shall not go out from the door of the
tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die:
for the anointing oil of the LORD is upon
you. And they did according to the word
of Moses.” (verses 6-7) I bet they did. And what God is saying to Aaron, Eleazar and
Ithamar is, ‘You’re not gonna mourn, you’re not gonna wail, and you’re not
gonna carry on, because you’re not going to give the people the impression that
my judgment is unjust and it was wrong.
What’s happened today is difficult, and it’s hard, but it’s right, and
it’s holy, and it’s good in the long run.
And I know your hearts are broken.’
God understands human attraction, he understands what there is
between brothers. He had four brothers
and two sisters that we know of, Jesus.
He understands those relationships.
But he says, ‘you’re representing my service, you are a picture of
something, you are not to go now and carry on, uncover your heads, tear your
clothes, wail and mourn and tell the rest of the congregation that God did
something wrong here today, it’s not gonna happen. I’m going to be sanctified, set aside in
their hearts, and I’m going to be glorified.’
And I’m sure these guys went back and reread the first eight
chapters that you thought were really boring, made sure they knew exactly what
was going on. The
Law Of Prohibition Of Drinking Alcohol While In Service Of The Tabernacle Or
Temple Verse 8 says this, this is
the only time in the Bible, only time in Leviticus that God speaks to
Aaron. Isn’t that interesting? The only time in Leviticus that God speaks to
Aaron. He spoke to Aaron through Moses,
but there’s no one who understands more than the LORD the heartbreak of a
father who loses a son, there’s no one who understands the heartbreak of a
father who loses his son more than God [the Father], and his Son would be
perfect. His Son would be innocent, and
he would have the authority, and the power, and the resources to stop his Son’s
death at any point, and he let it go forward because he loves us. And he comes to Aaron this day, and speaks
with Aaron, the LORD
[the LORD being Yahweh, or as
he identified himself in Exodus 3 as the Great I AM, who later became Jesus
Christ], merciful, tender, stooping down to human relationship, to our hearts,
to our lives, “And the LORD spake unto Aaron,
saying, Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when
ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever
throughout your generations:” (verses 8-9)
Is this telling us that Nadab and Abihu were half-pickled when they ran
in, they were drinking, and in the excitement of everything they ran in and
they did something under the influence of alcohol? I think this is a great challenge for anybody
who wants to draw near to the Lord and serve the Lord. Even in Ezekial chapter 44, around verse 21,
when it describes the Millennium, it says none of the priests that draw near to
the Lord are to come, are to drink, and have that be part of their coming near
to him. God would have us under no other
influence. This morning, with the
teachers from the school in Sandy Cove we talked about Ephesians chapter
5:18, “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the
Spirit…” “Be ye being filled”
present-emphatic passive. Be ye being
filled, constantly, not you being filled, God filling you, it’s passive, it’s
emphatic, it’s not a choice, it’s a commandment. Don’t be drunk with wine, don’t be under the
influence of the things of this world, and of the things of this life, and of
the things of the horizontal. That would
include crack and marijuana, cocaine, all of it, don’t be under, don’t be
intoxicated, and don’t be under the influence of those things, but be ye
constantly being filled afresh with God’s Holy Spirit. Solomon tells us in Proverbs 31
that his mother said ‘Don’t drink wine my son,’ she challenges
him there, ‘it is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink
wine; nor for princes strong drink: lest
they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the
afflicted. Give strong drink unto him
that is ready to perish,’ those that are lost, those who have no hope, ‘and
wine unto those that be of heavy hearts.’ (verses 4-6) I wonder if that law held true in Washington
today how different things would be? Give no strong drink to those who rule, to
kings, to princes, to those that are to make sober judgment and not be under
the influence of other things, how important.
“Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee,
when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever
throughout your generations:” (verse 8b-9)
Look, this is not saying, if you go out to dinner with your wife and
have a glass of wine you’re in sin. But
I know this, you don’t want me to drink, you don’t want me to come here and sit
in this pulpit drunk or under the influence of anything, and it won’t
happen. And for the folks on staff here
that get paid with your money, if they go out and drink they’re fired, you
don’t put money in the offering so they can go to the State Store and buy
alcohol. We expect our elders and our
pastors to live by different standards.
We don’t let our worship leaders drink, how can they lead worship? There’s a different standard, you’re drawing
close to the Lord, you’re saying ‘Lord, here’s my life, I’m setting it aside
for you,’ wherever we are, I think if we’re serious about that, we’re
consecrating our lives. What does
alcohol add to us? In a culture where
over 33 billion dollars a year is spent on alcohol, 33 billion dollars a
year. For every drug addict in America
there are 15 alcoholics. They estimate
now, every 14 people that take a drink for the first time, one at least out of
every 14 becomes a lifelong alcoholic.
The social drink, one out of every fourteen. What’s the point? Christ is coming, the trumpet’s going to
blow, Jesus is coming, the world’s falling apart [he gave this on August 29,
2007, the world’s really falling apart now, with the Russo-Ukrainian war going full-tilt,
the Israeli-Hamas war going on in the Middle East, Europe, Russia, China, and
other nations in the world arming themselves as if World War III is coming,
which it is. In 2007 it wasn’t even
close, compared to now]. We’re on the
verge of all kinds of things, there’s terrorism, you look at what’s going on in
the world, I’m hoping we’re on the verge of revival. I don’t have any time for that, I want to be
wide awake, I want to have my eyes open, if the trumpet blows, I want to have
my eyes wide open, if revival comes I want to have my eyes wide open, I don’t
want to be under anything but the influence of the Holy Spirit. I have been set free by Jesus Christ, and I
don’t need to be in bondage to anything else.
And if we’re going to give a message, we’re going to tell a lost world
that they can be set free, God’s never gonna use someone with an unsurrendered
life to talk to an unsurrendered world. Surrender
your life to him, let him fill you with the Spirit, and see just what might
happen in the world that we live in?
What might happen in your family, in this city? What would happen if we give ourselves over
to him completely? And God is tender
about it, God comes and he talks to Aaron, Aaron’s heart is broken, and he
talks to him and says ‘Son,’ he’s raising kids, you know. Like we talk to your kids or talk to mine, he
stoops down and says ‘This is not good, don’t let your sons drink, this
business is about you and I and eternity, it’s holy, it’s good, it’s before the
congregation, don’t drink, don’t come to me that way,’ and he stoops
down to talk to him. And I’ll stoop down
to talk to you, if you’ll listen. Before
you take your next drink, say ‘Lord Jesus, do you want me to take this
drink?’ Just try it, see what
happens. [Comment: Calvary Chapels started in the late 1960s,
ministering to Hippies strung out on drugs and alcohol, it turned into a real
revival, but the Calvary Chapels that started from that had to be sort of a
hospital-church, ministering to all these drug addicts and alcoholics, so they
more or less teach abstinence when it comes to alcohol consumption (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vmHFvnjPDw Jesus Revolution). But they also realize that the Bible teaches
“extreme moderation” for alcohol consumption, and that if you can’t be
extremely moderate in your consumption, don’t drink at all. That’s what the Bible teaches. No one, and I mean no one will ever cross
over into becoming an alcoholic if they practice “extreme moderation” in
alcohol consumption. But churches don’t
teach that, because it’s way more difficult to get your congregation to achieve
that level of spiritual balance. It’s
far easier just to teach abstinence.]
Here’s why he says that, in verse 10, “and that ye may put difference
between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean; and that ye may teach
the children of Israel all the statutes which the LORD hath spoken unto them
by the hand of Moses.” (verses 10-11)
He’s gotta say ‘I don’t want you just to teach them verbally, I
want you to teach them by example, I want you to walk the walk, not just talk
the talk, and I want your lives to demonstrate those things.’ The
Sanctification Process Continues, They Burn Up The Sin Offering By Accident “And Moses spake unto Aaron, and
unto Eleazar and unto Ithamar, his sons that were left,” interesting thing to
say, “Take the meat offering that remaineth of the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and eat
it without leaven beside the altar: for
it is most holy: and ye shall eat
it in the holy place, because it is thy due, and thy sons’ due, of the
sacrifices of the LORD made by fire: for so I am commanded. And the wave breast and heave shoulder shall
ye eat in a clean place; thou, and thy sons, and thy daughters” notice “thy daughters”
“with thee: for they be thy due,
and thy sons’ due,” in other words, as they offered the peace offerings,
part of that provided food for the priests and his family, “which are
given out of the sacrifices of peace offerings of the children of Israel. The heave shoulder and the wave breast shall
they bring with the offerings made by fire of the fat, to wave it for a
wave offering before the LORD; and it shall be
thine, and thy sons’ with thee, by a statute for ever; as the LORD hath commanded.” Now, “And Moses
diligently sought the goat of the sin offering, and, behold, it was burnt:” Now
they were to eat of the sin offering, and that’s not happening. “and he was angry with Eleazar and
Ithamar, the sons of Aaron which were left alive, saying,”
(verses 12-16) Now we find out
Moses, it’s interesting, has this anger problem. It says he’s the meekest man that ever lived,
but he had an anger problem, it’s an interesting thing [an interesting
combination]. Of course he figures, ‘Look,
I’m loosing all my priests in one day here.’
“Wherefore have ye not eaten the sin offering in the holy place,
seeing it is most holy, and God hath given it you to bear the
iniquity of the congregation, to make an atonement for them before the LORD? Behold, the blood of it was not brought in
within the holy place: ye should
indeed have eaten it in the holy place, as I commanded.” (verses 17-18) Whenever the blood was brought in, and that
was specifically the priest’s sin offering, then the whole thing was burnt and
nothing was eaten. But when the sin
offering was offered for the people, the blood was not brought in, and then the
priests ate part of that. He says “Behold,
the blood of it was not brought in within the holy place: ye should indeed have eaten it in the
holy place, as I commanded. And
Aaron said unto Moses, Behold, this day have they offered their sin offering
and their burnt offering before the LORD; and such things have
befallen me: and if I had eaten
the sin offering to day, should it have been accepted in the sight of the LORD?” (verses 18-19) He says ‘Moses, I understand keeping the
Law, I’ve lost my sons today. Do you
think the LORD wanted me just to go through the
motions, do you think he would have accepted it if I’d have just eaten the sin
offering because the Law said eat the sin offering, and it wasn’t in my heart,
should I have been a hypocrite, I had no appetite, my sons were just consumed
in front of me, Moses I know it’s right, I know what the Law says, should I
have done that, just going through the motions without my heart being involved,
should I have played the role of the hypocrite today?’ “And when Moses heard that, he was
content.” (verse 20) it
says. Now, we can get into this a
little, chapter 11, but we’ll save the greater portion of it.” Leviticus
11:1-6 “And the LORD spake unto Moses and
to Aaron, saying unto them, 2 Speak unto the
children of Israel, saying, These are the beasts which ye shall eat
among all the beasts that are on the earth. 3
Whatsoever
parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted, and cheweth the cud, among the
beasts, that shall ye eat. 4 Nevertheless these
shall ye not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the
hoof: as the camel, because he
cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you. 5
And
the coney, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is
unclean unto you. 6 And the hare, because
he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you.” The
Dietary Laws: What You Can Eat &
What You Can’t Eat Now chapter 10 was about the
priesthood, chapter 11 is about the whole congregation, “And the LORD spake unto Moses and
to Aaron, saying unto them, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, These are
the beasts which ye shall eat among all the beasts that are on the
earth.” (verses 1-2) Now, cleanliness is next to godliness, we
start to come into this chapter of the dietary laws, what they’re allowed to
eat and what they’re not allowed to eat.
You have to understand, they spent 400 years in Egypt. There’s a book you can get, I think we might
have it in the bookstore, it’s called “None Of These Diseases” and
it’s written by a doctor and he goes through the dietary laws of Israel, and
describes in fact how clean they were.
In fact, in Europe in the Middle Ages during the plagues, because the
Jews had these laws of cleanliness, the plague hardly hit the Jews in
Europe. So many of the Gentiles,
stupidly, bigotedly then blamed the Jews for starting the plague, ‘because
they must have done it because they’re not getting it.’ They were the ones who knew ‘Don’t touch
anything unclean, don’t touch a dead body, don’t do this, separate yourself,’ because
they had these laws. [And as this doctor
brings out, these were health laws, not ceremonial laws.] They have discovered a medical record from
Egypt from the year 1552BC, now you get an idea what this whole generation had
grown up with. [The Exodus was in
1446BC, so this medical record was written a little before the birth of Moses,
putting it in historic perspective.] It
says “If you have a problem with hair loss,” I look around, some of you
should listen up. Now, we have all this
Rogaine, these places that stick them in your head, do all this stuff, spray it
on, they didn’t have any of that stuff.
In Egypt, if you had hair loss, it says you took a mixture of these fats
from six different animals. You took the
fat of a horse, the fat of a hippopotamus, the fat of a crocodile, the fat of a
cat, the fat of a snake (you don’t see many fat snakes), and the fat of an ibex
in equal portions and you mix those six different fats together, and you rub
those on your head, for hair loss. I
think you kept everybody in Egypt in denial, ‘No, I’m not losing hair, what
are you talking about?’ Because you
don’t want to rub that fat on your head, you’d get enough flies up there to
make it look like all your black hair is back again [loud laughter]. That was what you did if you had hair
loss. If you had a splinter or a sliver
of something in that you couldn’t get out, you took worms blood and you mixed
it with donkey dung, poop for the uninitiated, and you put that on there. Now that carries tetanus, that carries all
kinds of bacteria, it’s insane. [Maybe
it was meant to cause swelling and puss, which if you survived, the swelling
with the splinter in it would come out when the swelling burst. That’s all I can think of.] This is medicine in Egypt. They said the medicine cabinet in Egypt, the
medical people constantly had these ingredients ready, they had fat of all
different kinds of animals, they always kept rotten meat, they kept dung, of
humans, donkeys, antelopes, dogs, cats [cat dung is particularly dangerous],
and flies. That sounds like a meticulous
job collecting that. A part of what was
necessary if you were in the medical practice, you kept sweat from a pigs ear,
imagine driving the pigs around on a hot day trying to get them to sweat,
having the job of having to collect that.
You kept a tube of lizard
blood. So it’s no wonder now, as God
gets his people out of Egypt, and gets them into the wilderness and sets them
aside, he’s going to say ‘These are the animals you can touch, these are
the things you can eat, these are the things you can’t eat.’ And he’s going to go to the touch, ‘You
can touch these things, you can’t touch those things, if you touch this you’re
unclean, you go outside the camp,’ there was cleanliness. And just it was remarkable how powerful these
laws were back then in regards to preservation for God’s people. “Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is
clovenfooted, and cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that shall ye eat.”
(verse 3) So anything with a cloven
foot that chews the cud, talking about ruminants, animals with some say four
stomachs, some say five, the rumen, reticulum, omasum, abomasum, and
duodenum. Free information. Those are the five stomachs or four stomachs,
an animal that has four stomachs is a ruminant, it regurgitates, belches up the
food, chews it over again, it goes back down again, imagine getting a
stomachache with four stomachs, a lot of antacid you gotta use to straighten a
problem like that out. But you’re able
to eat them. “Nevertheless these
shall ye not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the
hoof: as the camel, because he
cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you. And the coney,” which is the hyrax, you
see them in Israel, “because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof;
he is unclean unto you. And the
hare,” the rabbit, “because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the
hoof; he is unclean unto you.” (verses 4-6) So he says there’s some animals, you can eat
any animal that chews the cud and has a divided hoof. If an animal has a divided hoof and doesn’t
chew the cud, swine, boors, you can’t eat them.
And if an animal chews the cud, like a camel, a hyrax or a rabbit chews
the cud, and does not have a cloven hoof, you can’t eat them. So it’s very specific. Interesting, people made fun of the Bible for
years because it says the hyrax and the rabbit chew the cud. And science knew nothing of this, so they
said ‘Why should I believe the Bible, the Bible tells us about God creating
the world, God’s love, God’s sending his Son into the world to pay for our
sins, redemption.’ It tells us about
his resurrection, it tells us about glory and heaven, all the things that are
ahead of us, and people won’t believe that because the Bible says the rabbit
chews the cud, ‘I’m not going to believe any of that stuff because it says
the rabbit chews the cud, I’m not going to believe any of the rest of that
stuff because the Bible says rabbits chew the cud.’ Well it’s interesting, in the last 80
years or so, they did discover with the hyrax, and they always do, they always
catch up with the Bible, the hyrax and the rabbit, do something called
refection, and a rabbit or a hyrax in the middle of the day as it’s resting,
they go to the bathroom, and every once in awhile in a little mucus sack will
come, undigested green will come out and they’ll pick that up and rechew it and
re-swallow it, and it goes through their system a second time. So they don’t ruminate like a cow or a horse,
it doesn’t come up again, but it goes all the way through and goes through a
second time anyway. So all of those
people who couldn’t accept Jesus because rabbits didn’t chew the cud should get
saved now, their excuses are gone.
Remarkable. Horses and cows will
eat anything. Can’t eat a horse because
it doesn’t have a cloven hoof, but it does chew the cud. I worked on a farm for a while, once in
awhile you have to take a cow or a horse, because they eat bailing wire and
screws and nails, it’s just for your free information, and you just take this
big magnet and you jam it down their throat, and you take a whole bottle of
mineral oil, and you get on the spot in the back where there’s no teeth, and you
just let the whole bottle of mineral oil run down their throat, and that magnet
will go through their whole system, it comes out the other end with all kinds
of screws, wires attached to it. You
just clean them out once in awhile, they feel better once you get all that
bailing wire, screws and nails, bottle caps and stuff out of there, they just
feel way better. Then they can take an
MRI and not worry about anything freaking out.
And with those stomachs, it produces so much bacteria, once in awhile
we’d find a cow laying on the field and they get what’s called the bloat, they
eat too many green apples, it starts to produce too much gas too fast, and they
swell up. If you don’t help them they’ll
explode. [Personally, I’m glad there are
farmers, and veterinarians to do all this stuff, I want nothing to do with all
this. It’s so nice to be able to go to
the supermarket and buy milk, beef, hamburger, lambchops, and not worry about
all this stuff.] This is free
information for you guys, we’re talking about ruminants here. So we have this spike that’s about this long,
and there’s a big wooden flat handle on the end of it, and you get on the cow’s
back and you measure from your thumb and little finger up from the pin-bone
along the spine, and you’re right on top of the rumen, and you take that big
spike and you hit it as hard as you can with your hand, Woom! you drive
it right into the cows back, and when you pull that out the foam is squirting
out of there, the cows stomach is deflating like air going out of a punctured
tire, animal rights activists would freak out if they saw this. But this is the way farmers take care of
their animals and save their lives. It’s
a remarkable sight, I grew up in Philly, I never saw anything like that in my
life, he’s gonna hit that nail in the cow’s back, the farmer goes ‘Wham!
and then he pulled it out, this stuff is squirting, the cow’s going ‘Mooo! Mooo!’ stuff’s squirting out of its back
like somebody shook up a soda bottle ‘Sheeee!’ So free information, these are ruminants, we
learned about rumen, reticulum, omasum, abomasum, and duodenum, you get around
these people and creatures. But the ones
who have a parted hoof and who chew the cud are clean, sheep, goats, cows, but anything
that chews the cud and has paws, like a rabbit without the cloven hoof is
unclean. Anything that, a camel chews
the cud, doesn’t have a cloven hoof, unclean.
So, interesting to look at these things, at least for me. Read ahead, we’ll start over, we’ll get a
fresh running start at this chapter, there’s so much fun in this chapter, I
just, you know you’re going to find out what crickets you’re allowed to eat,
just great stuff. And look, if you love
shrimp and scallops, I do too, and we’re not under the Law, we can eat them
now, if you love escargot we’ll pray for you, don’t know what’s wrong with
you. [Comment: within the greater Body of Christ, it is
debatable about how much under the OT Law we are under. Some feel that Hebrews 10 teaches that only
the ceremonial parts of the law, like the sacrificial system, the sacrifices,
are no longer required, because Jesus Christ’s sacrifice took the place of all
of them. Some Messianic Jewish
pastor/rabbis claim Leviticus 11 is ceremonial as well, which it is not, they
are plainly health laws (but they want to have their bacon and eat it too). As such, God created all the animals,
designed them, and he knew from the start which were healthy to eat and which
ones weren’t. Lobsters and crabs contain
dioxin, a powerful nerve poison, only recently discovered, which attack the
kidneys. Clams, muscles, scallops are
filter creatures, that filter the oceans and lakes they’re in, and they filter
out poisons and heavy metals, which show up in their flesh (and muscles can be
particularly dangerous, even deadly).
Swine have so much fat embedded in their meat that can lead to heart
conditions. Pastor Joe recommends that
book None Of These Diseases, buy and read that and see if you think the
dietary laws of God are passe’. It’s
your life, your body. The parts of the
OT law of God that the Church has no right to enforce are the penalties for
sin, the death penalty and such. The Old
Testament Laws of God, as Matthew 5:17-19 plainly show us, are not done away,
but when the Millennial Kingdom of God is established on the earth after Jesus
2nd coming, they will become the Laws of the land for the whole
earth, the national Constitutional Laws for every nation. All those laws will be in full force again
during the Millennial Kingdom of God, including the 4th Commandment
and Holy Days of Leviticus 23, which nobody seems to observe anymore. The Laws of Christ found in the New Testament
will be taught in the churches which will fill the earth. Many super-grace oriented churches and
denominations believe none of the OT Laws apply to Christians, whereas others,
such as the Sabbath-keeping Churches of God believe most of them do in
principle, and the Ten Commandments and dietary laws and Holy Days, which are
commanded assemblies, specifically still apply.
Interesting thing is, both groups are keeping 9 out of the 10
commandments to the Spirit level, even though their definitions about Law &
Grace differ, making them all legitimate believers, Holy Spirit indwelt
believers in Jesus Christ. I’ve had a
very strange spiritual journey which has revealed all of this to me (see https://unityinchrist.com/author.htm).] Read ahead through the next two chapters, and
if the Lord tarries we’ll go through these things. If you really want to delve into it, you grab
the paperback, it’s ‘None Of These Diseases’ it’s a very interesting
read, it goes through these things, God’s wisdom, preserving in the physical
his ancient people. And look, the point
is, God cared about your table [and he still does, why would that change?], he
stooped down. Imagine having, imaging
God stooping down and say “Hey look, if you’re inclined to eat bugs, you can
eat the locust, you can eat the bald locust, you can eat the cricket, you can
eat the grasshopper, but I don’t want you to eat any other bugs.” Anybody here raise kids? How many times when you’re raising a kid do
you say ‘Take that outa your mouth! What
is he doing, eating an ant, eating a caterpillar? Get that outa your mouth!’ Here’s God stooping down. Now he wouldn’t have to tell me this, if he
was writing the Bible for me he could have skipped part of this chapter
[really? Do you eat pork, lobster, fried
clams, rattle snake? If so, you need
this chapter too 😊]. Don’t eat bugs, don’t eat seagulls, don’t eat
bats [the Corona Virus came from a bat infection crossing over into humans in
Wuhan, China which went around the world as a contagion, killing millions of
people]. You don’t have to tell me
that. Don’t eat snails, thanks
Lord. But to me it’s remarkable that he
stoops down to us, and he loves us, he raises us as his kids, ‘Take that
outa your mouth! Don’t eat those kind of
bugs, if you really want to eat a bug, you can eat this bug, and these animals
are clean, you can eat those, these animals are unclean,’ and constantly,
every time they looked at their table, every time they looked at their flock,
there was always in their mind, clean, unclean, holy, unholy, right, wrong,
light, darkness, even down to sitting down at the table. And we think that there are things in our
lives that are not important to God, let me tell you something, the smallest
things in our lives are important to him, he loves us. He cares about what we eat. That’s why he lets somebody make a movie like
McDonalds [Supersize Me], because he cares, he cares what we eat. Let’s have the musicians come and we’ll sing
a last song. Somehow I want you to get
crickets out of your mind and we’ll get back to, Nadab and Abihu, that’s a good
place for us to be, not drinking, that’s a great place for us to leave our
hearts and our minds [or drinking with extreme moderation for the rest of the
Body of Christ]. The LORD stooping down to
speak to Aaron after he lost his sons, remarkable to me, it’s remarkable to
me. Let’s stand, and let’s
pray…[transcript of a connective expository sermon on Leviticus 8:30-36,
Leviticus 9:1-24, Leviticus 10:1-20, and Leviticus 11:1-6, given by Pastor Joe
Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia, 13500 Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia,
PA 19116] [Pastor Chuck Smith’s comment concerning
Leviticus 11, from his Word For Today NKJV Bible, p.149, “God gave
extensive instructions to the Children of Israel concerning what they could and
could not eat. It is tedious reading and
seems almost random and pointless. But
there is an interesting book written by Dr. S.I. McMillan called None of
These Diseases. His book goes into
great detail to explain some of the medical reasons for many of these dietary
laws and also for some of the cleansing rituals. God doesn’t just make up rules
to restrict His people. He creates rules
because He knows what is best for us.
Although these rules were only given for the Jews [Israelites, all 13
tribes, not just the Jews] and we aren’t obligated to keep these laws, we would
probably be a lot healthier if we took some of these mandates more
seriously.] related links: “I don’t think Ananias and
Sapphira went to hell, it doesn’t say Nadab and Abihu went to hell. It says God’s hand came down on them.” Within the Body of Christ there are various
interpretations about heaven and hell, to view some of these, see https://unityinchrist.com/plaintruth/battle.htm Calvary Chapels started in the
late 1960s, ministering to Hippies strung out on drugs and alcohol, it turned
into a real revival, but the Calvary Chapels that started from that had to be
sort of a hospital-church, ministering to all these drug addicts and
alcoholics, so they more or less teach abstinence when it comes to alcohol
consumption. To see how this revival
started out, click on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vmHFvnjPDw Jesus Revolution Audio version:
https://resources.ccphilly.org/detail.asp?TopicID=&Teaching=WED568 |