Bible Reading Challenge Blog

Let’s start in Hebrews because once again it lays out for us the building blocks of our faith. Look at 9:22b where it states: “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins”. You may ask, why not? I would answer because that is the way that God instituted it. All of our readings in Leviticus point to the shedding of blood as being efficacious for the forgiveness of sins. Here it is Jesus’ blood once and for all that forgivess us of our sin. Look at 9:26b where it states: “But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself.” Is there anything more fundamental to our faith than the truth that Jesus’ blood was shed for our sins once and for all as an eternal sacrifice so that our sins could be removed. This Scripture lays it out.

Once again we read in Hebrews 10:10 – “And it is by God’s will that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Hebrews is a book of the Bible that we can read and reread over and over again. If someone could remind me that I want to preach on Hebrews after we are done with Matthew. It needs to be preached because it is so fundamental to our faith. Now to Leviticus.

Molech was a god that the people of the land, not the Israelites, worshipped and who required human sacrifices. The fact that God speaks so strongly against it makes us realize that probably at some time the people of Israel did worship Molech and did need to be told not to do it. We also see a series of sins that were forbidden with death that dealt with nakedness and sexual immorality and impropriety. They deal with family, animals, and same sex relationships. None of these things according to Leviticus were allowed, in fact they were forbidden in the strongest of terms. It is interesting that many in today’s culture would agree with the prohibition against sex within the family and with animals, but not necessarily same sex. There is an inherent inconsistency there. I think I have said enough on this matter.

Leviticus takes us throught once again a series of laws, but this time they are focused on leprosy, discharges, and finally, the all important day of atonement. We cannot overlook this important day in which the people of Israel were forgiven. This dayof atonement was basically the precursor of the sacrifice that Jesus made upon the cross. In Jesus’ death and resurrection his blood was the blood that made us clean once and for all. No longer was a goat needed in order to be sacrificed and then one let loose as the scapegoat which carried our sins in the wilderness. This is the connection between the Leviticus and the Hebrews Scripture. As Hebrews 8:13 says the old covenant has become obsolete and the new covenant is now in its place. This new covenant was the one that Christ has brought.

We find the term scapegoat used in Leviticus in the word Azazel which literally means scapegoat. It is upon this goat that the sins of the people are placed and then released in the wilderness. When we go to Israel and we see where the goat is released to wander in the wilderness, the fear was that the goat might wander back with all of its sins upon its back. So, you can see that the release point tends to be a cliff that would make it pretty much impossible for the goat to survive as it makes its way out of town down the cliff. That scapegoat was not coming back.

God continues to give orders to Moses and Aaron about how to lead the people in religious worship while at the same time giving clear directives on diet and what can be eaten and what should be avoided. We have an unfortunate incident of two of Aaron’s sons who decided to go rogue and strike out on their own and create their own religious traditions. God was not pleased to say the least, to the point where Aaron and his sons who survived were not allowed to mourn at all.

The detail of what could be eaten and what could not be eaten is pretty extensive. But keep in mind these dietary laws were also in place to keep the people alive. Can you imagine the slaughter if people ate pork in a way that it was not supposed to be eaten? But fortunately we have Peter in Acts who has a dream which allows people to eat all that which God has created and basically makes these dietary laws null and void.

Hebrews continues to provide us super solid foundational Scripture. One section that caught my eye was 5:4 where we read that those who are called to ordained ministry shall not presume this “honor”, but only take it when they are called by God. What a reminder that we do not choose on our own whether we are called by God to ordained ministry, but rather God does the choosing and then the congregation affirms that this is indeed God’s call. Sorry, it caught my attention.

We find ourselves once again with the legalism of Leviticus which drives this section. It is interesting that the offerings were based upon how much you were able to afford. From a life animal, to a bird, to a wheat offering. Notice that when Mary and Joseph go to the temple they offer a bird which is kind of middle of the road. You can find that Scripture in Luke 2:24. It is curious how these Scriptures from the Old Testament have an impact on the New Testament and what we see happening in the life of people of faith.

When we get to Hebrews it once again is the depiction of the faith that we have in Jesus Christ. I love the fact that Jesus is consistenlty portrayed not just as one of many people who have had an impact on the Christian faith, like Moses, but goes far beyond anyone and is God himself. He is much more than Moses, he is the builder of the house while we are the houses. That is very different. You can’t read this Scripture without highlighting 4:12 which reminds us that the Word of God is sharper than a two edged sword. God’s Word strips us of pretension and the fake approach that we are beyond reproach. We are sinners in the hands of a loving God, but we are still sinners. No amount of grace will make us not be sinners. Now, our sin is washed clean, but we are still sinners in the hands of a God of grace. We can’t forget that or we risk inheriting cheap grace.

We begin today with two very, very different books of the Bible. Leviticus begins our journey through the many sacrifices which had to be made in order for the people of Israel to be made right with God. There are very specific guidelines on how these sacrifices are to be made and which animals are to be used for the sacrifices. Obviously we no longer make sacrifices before our God. Hebrews, in fact, explains to us why we no longer sacrifice animals to God. It is because Jesus was the final sacrifice and he was sacrificed for our sake once and for all.

Hebrews is one of those books of the Bible that doesn’t get a lot of notoriety and yet contains essential truths of our faith. The first concept that we find mentioned is that the author wants to make sure that we understand that Jesus wasn’t just an angel, or a prophet, or anything less than God Himself. There my be a lingering thought in some of us that Jesus was just a good guy whose example set for us the type of life we ought to live. No, he was more than that. Or maybe because he did not sin then God exalted him to a higher status than we are, similar to the belief that saints are on a bit of an upper echelon because of their lives. No and no. Jesus is God, was God from the beginning, as Hebrews states even as the Son had a hand in creation as part of the Trinitarian understanding of who God is. This is a crucial concept with which to begin and from that we can launch ourselves into understanding the sacrifice that he made as God.

There are a variety of things that we could cover for today. It does seem like II Peter focuses on sin and specifically the sin of lust. He speaks about how lust has been the downfall of so many and especially in a communal sense. He talks about the earth during the time of Noah and how God destroyed it. He talks about Sodom and Gomorrah and how that was destroyed. He describes lust as that which strongly gets in the way of an individual living out his life in the way of Christ. A false prophet, who is described at length in II Peter, could easily be one who may be called by God to proclaim His message but his entanglement with lust prevents him from hearing God’s words clearly or seeing the plans that God has for him and his people. If you look at II Peter 3:8-10 these are very powerful verses that we can come back to and take assurance in. They are also verses that bring this song to mind, especially the end of it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-4NFvI5U9w

When we get to the Psalms they are also very varied. We see the Psalmist go over the disobedience of the Israelites and how Moses “stood it he breach” in order to save them from God’s wrath. We find this theme repeated where God saves the Israelites from their sin, but then they sin again, and again and again. With Jesus we read that God has sent his son in order to save us once and for all. That even in the midst of our sin the wrath of God is appeased. Jesus is the one who is in the breach today and forever. The cycle doesn’t repeat itself because God chose an unconditional covenant, which is completely different from the conditional covenant which needed to be constantly revised because we would inevitably break it.

We finish up Exodus with the details of the garments of the priest that he needs to wear. We also see that Moses was given charge to do some quality control and he checked it all out and it was admissible. God then comes and fills the tabernacle, and not even Moses is able to go in when God is in the house. Once the cloud lifts from the tabernacle then the people of Israel are able to move forward toward the promised land. They are not wandering at this point, they are slowly but surely making their way to the promised land. Their wandering, and the disobedience that causes their wandering, comes later.

On to I Peter where we find a letter written by ostensibly Simon Peter, who was the disciple of Jesus who is also considered the one who headed up the church in Jerusalem. But here he is said to be in Babylon, which we know means Rome. So here is the concept of Peter heading up the church in Rome and how this then carries over into the Roman Catholic Church. It is from this letter. There are some really powerful Scriptures here including the part of one that I use for the benediction on Sundays. Look at I Peter 3:9 where we read not to repay anyone evil for evil. We also see that in Romans 12:17-21.

There is a lot in this chapter, and some of it is not cut and dry, and is even somewhat controversial. There is a lot mentioned about men and women. There is something mentioned about slaves. There is a glorification of persecution, if you are the one being persecuted. But we also find a promise in this Scripture that if you are able to make it through this time of trial then you will receive the prize of eternal life. That’s a good way to end this.

We repeat once again the measurements of the tabernacle, the traveling temple, and all the work that went into constructing it. Did you notice that the call went out for workers and others to help with the building of the tabernacle and filling it with those items that the Lord commanded be included? What happened once the call went out? So many people came and offered what was needed that another call had to go out that they had what they needed. Can you imagine a call that goes out in the church that we need help in the nursery, and help for people to teach Sunday School, and help with advisors for the youth and we get such an overflowing response that we have to tell people we don’t need them because we have enough? Now that would be awesome!

I do want to touch upon the face of Moses when he sees the Lord. A couple things about that. First of all, he is in the presence of God and while he is in God’s presence his face glows as a result. God gives him another set of tablets in order that the ten commandments would once again be written so that they could be with the people. That happens and this time Moses doesn’t break them. But when he comes down off the mountain, and every time that he talks with the Lord, his face shines. In the Hebrew it can also be interpreted as “he had horns”. You will see in many depictions of Moses especially in the Baroque and the Renaissance periods you have Moses with the 10 commandments and he has horns. It is very offputting, but when you go to Rome and see St. Peter’s or other statues done by Michalangelo, or Bernini, you will see Moses at times with horns. This is why, because his face was shining when he saw God, or he had horns. Fun fact for the day.

I do hope that you made it through these passages today. The first section dealt with the creation of the tabernacle which was the moveable temple. It is in the tabernacle where the arc of the covenant was to be placed so that the presence of God would be obvious by the Israelites as they made their way to the promised land. After that we see the vestments of the priests is covered. It was important to recognize that those who were going to be going before the presence of the Lord were dressed appropriately and in a manner that was dignified before the Lord. I wear a robe in the first service but it is not meant to be interpreted as the robe that Aarong and his children wore. Rather, the robe, for me at least, is to hide the messenger so that only the message from God would be seen. It is also very nice because people are not noticing and commenting on what the pastor is wearing on that day.

Finally there is the story of Moses receiving the ten commandments which were given back in chapter 20. He receives them in stone and they were written by the finger of God. That’s a pretty neat image and one that we see clearly in Michaelangelo’s Sistine chapel depiction as God creates Adam by stretching out his finger. The story of the golden calf is legendary. Remember that God has made up his mind to kill the Israelites and to further the people of Israel only through the children of Moses and Joshua. Remember Moses took Joshua with him up the mountain. But Moses beseeches God to save the people, and God does. The people had made a golden calf that they worshipped under the leadership of Aaron. Moses throws down the tablets, but God replaces them later. What a great reminder that when there is an absence of leadership, or when there is bad leadership, even, or maybe especially, the people of God go wild.

So we find ourselves knee deep in the laws and regulations of the people of Israel. This includes the well known eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. We see this actually in yesterday’s reading, so go back over that if you would. For today…, we see laws of restitution, social and religious laws, laws of justice for everyone including the slave and the immigrant and the widow and the virgin. We read about the sabbatical year and the sabbath, the festivals that the Lord wanted the people of Israel to celebrate are mentioned as well. This is why it is called the law, because there are so many laws which the Israelites were commanded to follow

The ark of the covenant is very interesting. In it were to be placed the 10 commandment tablets that the Lord gave to Moses and the manna from heaven that was to be kept as a remembrance for all that the Lord had done. Fascinating in this same reading we see that not only Moses but the 70 elders all see the presence of God. I had forgotten that even the 70 elders had seen him. We know that doesn’t happen again until Jesus comes on the face of the earth and those around him witnessed and experienced the living God in the flesh, in Jesus himself.

The Psalms each speak about a recovery from serious illness. The first, Psalm 6, cries out to God in the midst of the suffering, but then ends, as most Psalms do, with a recognition that God does heal and that God is the one who brings about restoration. That is a great way to end.