Leviticus Chapters 22-24

22:22 - As I read through all these very specific calls to perfection in what the Israelites are called to bring before God, I wonder how this applies to me today. Although I know perfection is out of my reach and I am desperately in need of the salvation God has offered me...I believe we can find a way to apply the heart of these verses to our lives. God is perfection...God is holy...God is good...God is worthy of honor, so though I am unable to offer Him perfection I am pushed by my want to worship Him to offer Him my very best in every area of life. As a minister of God's Word part of my holy worship of God is making sure that I make sacrifices of time and energy and creativity to honor God with unblemished ministry. If I cut corners and slack off, I am offering blemished sacrifices to my awesome God. What does offering your best to God look like?

23:3 - The Sabbath is a reminder that God is a creator God that made the universe and rested in the goodness of is creation. It is a reminder that God is holding everything together, so we can take a day off. It is a reminder to connect with God and grow in our trust of Him as we solemnly rest.

23:5 - The passover is a reminder of the salvation that came to the Israelites when they were in Egypt. Th blood of the lamb caused death to pass over them and the blood of Jesus Christ offers us the same life-sparing mercy.

23:10 - The feast of first fruits is a reminder of God's provision. What do we do as modern Christians to remind ourselves of God's incredible provision?

Feast of Weeks - Another reminder of the grace and gifts of God after the harvest. A time of celebration and joy brought on by the sustainer nature of God.

23:24 - The Feast of Trumpets. This begins what it called the ten days of awe before the day of atonement. The trumpets are blown and they serve as an ancient tornado siren,calling the people to remember their sins and repent. At the end of the ten days, they go before God and atone for those sins. Repentance and confession...yet another healthy, God-ordained practice that has almost no place in the Christian world today.

23:28 - Day of Atonement - a reminder of God's holiness and their own imperfection, bringing about an understanding of our desperate need for salvation.

23:43 - Feast of booths - A reminder that even though they dwelt in tents in the wilderness for many years with no real home, Gd was protecting them and would be faithful to bring them to the land He had promised.

24:16 - Wow, that is intense! This is a very bold reminder of the holiness of God's name. This also gives us a little insight into the anger of the Pharisees in the NT when Jesus begins to make references to his heavenly origins. They took the name of God seriously and Jesus began to basically say that he was God and from God. (I also found it interesting that the "eye for eye tooth for tooth" passage came in the middle of this story about the boy who blasphemed the name of God. Yahweh in Hebrew is made of completely of Hebrew breath sounds...God's very name is the breath of life. Maybe when you take the name of God in vain it is a crime against life itself and demands life in return - "eye for eye"?)