Read: Leviticus 19:1-20:21; Mark 8:11-38; Psalm 42:1-11
Leviticus is God explaining the details of the Ten Commandments. It is the answers to the FAQ’s about them. He even gave laws to provide for the poor. The field workers were to leave droppings from their harvest and not harvest the corners of the land so that the poor could work them. That was so they could obey the next thing he said which was not to steal. If the blessed people would do what God told them to do then the poor would be taken care of and not have to steal. Everyone needs the satisfaction of working for themselves. We rob the poor of that joy when we just hand it to them. It might be the easiest for us, but employing them would be more healthy and fulfilling for them.
God gave many laws about mixture. They were not to mate different cattle together, mix seed when planting, mix different cloths, etc. God hates mixture. We are not to mix good with evil.
God gave them commandments about planting trees that are to bear fruit. Trees represent God’s people (Psalm 1). The trees were uncircumcised the first three years. On the fourth they would be a holy praise to the Lord and the they could be used for food in the fifth year. Sounds crazy unless you understand the process God laid out in Genesis One. First day is our first day of salvation. We enter the kingdom of light and are saved. The second day responds to the second year in today’s reading where we learn to separate what is holy from what is not holy. Then on the third day, seed is planted that will produce that fruit. So in our lives, that represents the way we plant the Word of God into our spirits because we will conform to the seed we plant. But on the fourth day, which represents the fourth year we come under the lordship of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. On the fifth day we are sent out to minister on the earth. Then our fruit is ripe and we have something to give out.
In our own lives, our life consists figuratively as a week with the seventh day being the day we enter into our rest. We all mature at different rates but we will all go through the same process.
In Chapter 20, God warns against given their seed to Molech. Molech was a false god that they would sacrifice their babies to to get his favor. Molech means “guilt”. We are not to birth things out of guilt. Anything born out of guilt will not endure or bear fruit. Grace is the opposite of guilt. Jesus came to remove the guilt and punishment of sin.
In Mark, Jesus was done with the Pharasee’s because they refused to see the sign standing right in front of them. Jesus told his disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. The leaven had to do with their man-made laws that they had added to God’s laws. Their laws were wrong doctrine. The disciples thought he was referring to the fact that they forgot to bring bread. Jesus was upset that they didn’t learn by his feeding the multitude that their needs would be provided. He was not teaching them carnal things, but spiritual. Jesus told Peter, “You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”
Lord, help us to not mind the things of the earth, because you have made provision for us, but help us to put your kingdom first and see the eternal rather than the natural.
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