{"id":18359,"date":"2021-11-04T22:00:07","date_gmt":"2021-11-05T05:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/leviticus_19_23-37-copy\/"},"modified":"2021-11-04T22:25:32","modified_gmt":"2021-11-05T05:25:32","slug":"leviticus_21_1-24","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/leviticus_21_1-24\/","title":{"rendered":"Loved Despite The Defects"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leviticus 21:1-24 \u00a0\u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Leviticus 21:1-24.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Leviticus 21:1-4 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The\u00a0LORD\u00a0said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: ‘A priest must not make himself ceremonially unclean for any of his people who die,
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0except for a close relative, such as his mother or father, his son or daughter, his brother,
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0or an unmarried sister who is dependent on him since she has no husband–for her he may make himself unclean.
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He must not make himself unclean for people related to him by marriage, and so defile himself.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-4:\u00a0\u00a0Leviticus 21:1-4 says that a priest could not touch or get near a dead person unless that person was a close relative, lest he become ceremonially unclean himself and unable to approach God.\u00a0\u00a0Amazingly, in contrast,\u00a0in the gospels we see Jesus\u2019 touching dead people and making them alive.\u00a0\u00a0Rather than Jesus being negatively affected by other people\u2019s \u201cdeadness\u201d, Jesus\u2019 \u201caliveness\u201d made dead people come to life.\u00a0\u00a0In Jesus Christ we have a high priest like no other.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Leviticus 21:5-6 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“‘Priests must not shave their heads or shave off the edges of their beards or cut their bodies.
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0They must be holy to their God and must not profane the name of their God. Because they present the offerings made to the\u00a0LORD\u00a0by fire, the food of their God, they are to be holy.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 5-6:\u00a0\u00a0Why was a priest not to shave their head or the edges of their beards or cut their bodies?\u00a0\u00a0It is because, according to scholars, these practices were part of pagan mourning rituals.\u00a0\u00a0God did want people to be confused and think that His priests were serving another god.<\/p>\n

Leviticus 21:7-15 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“‘They must not marry women defiled by prostitution or divorced from their husbands, because priests are holy to their God.
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Regard them as holy, because they offer up the food of your God. Consider them holy, because I the\u00a0LORD\u00a0am holy–I who make you holy.
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“‘If a priest’s daughter defiles herself by becoming a prostitute, she disgraces her father; she must be burned in the fire.
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“‘The high priest, the one among his brothers who has had the anointing oil poured on his head and who has been ordained to wear the priestly garments, must not let his hair become unkempt or tear his clothes.
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He must not enter a place where there is a dead body. He must not make himself unclean, even for his father or mother,
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0nor leave the sanctuary of his God or desecrate it, because he has been dedicated by the anointing oil of his God. I am the\u00a0LORD.
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“‘The woman he marries must be a virgin.
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He must not marry a widow, a divorced woman, or a woman defiled by prostitution, but only a virgin from his own people,
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0so he will not defile his offspring among his people. I am the\u00a0LORD, who makes him holy.'”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 7-15:\u00a0\u00a0These verses, in particular verses 7-9 as well as 13-15, show how much God cared about the kind of woman a priest decided to marry or even the kind of woman his daughter grew up to be.\u00a0\u00a0Verse 9 where it says that the daughter of a priest who later becomes a prostitute is to be burned in the fire is a hard one to digest.\u00a0\u00a0If anything, it shows that God has unrelenting wrath toward sin and toward the defamation of His holy name.<\/p>\n

Despite the fact that a priest was not to marry a widow, a divorced woman, or a prostitute (v14), the rest of the Bible would show that God used in hugely significant ways women who were widows, prostitutes and women whose marriages fell apart. For example:<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ruth was a widow, and yet God used her second marriage to Boaz to ultimately bring forth the Messiah Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:5).<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Rahab worked as a prostitute, and yet God used her to also to be ancestor of Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:5).<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Tamar, while working as a prostitute, became pregnant and gave birth to Perez, who would also be ancestor of Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:3).<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Bathsheba slept with King David and became pregnant even while she was married to Uriah.\u00a0\u00a0Had Uriah found out, Uriah could have divorced Bathsheba.\u00a0\u00a0Yet God used Bathsheba to give birth to King Solomon and would later become an ancestor of Jesus as well (Matthew 1:6).<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the lesson here?\u00a0\u00a0While God was strict with priests on whom they could marry,\u00a0God Himself loves to involve people who come from imperfect pasts to advance His kingdom<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Leviticus 21:16-24 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The\u00a0LORD\u00a0said to Moses,
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Say to Aaron: ‘For the generations to come none of your descendants who has a defect may come near to offer the food of his God.
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0No man who has any defect may come near: no man who is blind or lame, disfigured or deformed;
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0no man with a crippled foot or hand,
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0or who is hunchbacked or dwarfed, or who has any eye defect, or who has festering or running sores or damaged testicles.
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0No descendant of Aaron the priest who has any defect is to come near to present the offerings made to the\u00a0LORD\u00a0by fire. He has a defect; he must not come near to offer the food of his God.
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He may eat the most holy food of his God, as well as the holy food;
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0yet because of his defect, he must not go near the curtain or approach the altar, and so desecrate my sanctuary. I am the\u00a0LORD, who makes them holy.'”
\n24\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So Moses told this to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 16-24:\u00a0\u00a0Because God is holy and perfect, nothing impure or imperfect can come near Him.\u00a0 Anything or anyone with a defect is considered unworthy to be in God’s presence.\u00a0 That is why Leviticus repeatedly required that an animal without defect be sacrificed to the Lord.<\/p>\n

Yet amazingly,\u00a0when we read the gospels, we see Jesus the Son of God who approaches people with all sorts of defects, whether physical, emotional or character-wise.\u00a0\u00a0He approaches them and shows them grace that changes their lives, in some cases removing their defects altogether.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

God does the same with us today.\u00a0\u00a0When we could not go to God because of our defects, God came to us.\u00a0\u00a0Instead of pushing us away from His presence, Jesus the perfect lamb of God without defect sacrificed Himself on the cross so that we, despite all our defects, could be brought near to God once again.<\/p>\n

Thank You God for loving me, letting me into Your presence and using me to advance Your kingdom despite all my defects — all because of Your perfect Son Jesus.\u00a0\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Leviticus 21:1-24.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Leviticus 21:1-4 (NIV)
\n1\u00a0\u00a0The\u00a0LORD\u00a0said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: ‘A priest must not make himself ceremonially unclean for any of his people who die,
\n2\u00a0\u00a0except for a close relative, such as his mother or father, his son or daughter, his brother,
\n3\u00a0\u00a0or an unmarried sister who is dependent on him since she has no husband–for her he may make himself unclean.
\n4\u00a0\u00a0He must not make himself unclean for people related to him by marriage, and so defile himself.<\/p>\n

On verses 1-4:\u00a0\u00a0Leviticus 21:1-4 says that a priest could not touch or get near a dead person unless that person was a close relative, lest he become ceremonially unclean himself and unable to approach God.\u00a0\u00a0Amazingly, in contrast,\u00a0in the gospels we see Jesus\u2019 touching dead people and making them alive.\u00a0\u00a0Rather than Jesus being negatively affected by other people\u2019s \u201cdeadness\u201d, Jesus\u2019 \u201caliveness\u201d made dead people come to life.\u00a0\u00a0In Jesus Christ we have a high priest like no other.<\/p>\n

Leviticus 21:5-6 (NIV)
\n5\u00a0\u00a0“‘Priests must not shave their heads or shave off the edges of their beards or cut their bodies.
\n6\u00a0\u00a0They must be holy to their God and must not profane the name of their God. Because they present the offerings made to the\u00a0LORD\u00a0by fire, the food of their God, they are to be holy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18362,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18359"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18359\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18360,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18359\/revisions\/18360"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}