May 23, 2024, Day 5 of Week 8

Daily Dose of Hope

May 23, 2024

Day 5 of Week 8

Scripture:  Leviticus 21-23; Hebrews 8

Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, the daily devotional and podcast that complements New Hope Church’s daily Bible reading plan.  We are getting close to the end of Leviticus.  Stay the course!  We are almost there. 

Our first chapter in Leviticus discusses the rules for priests. As the people's representatives before God, they were held to some pretty hefty standards regarding holiness.  The high priest, as the one person who walked into the holiest of holies (where the presence of God dwelt) one day a year, had even stricter lifestyle guidelines to which to adhere.  While I am sure it was an honor to be a priest, it was also a heavy responsibility. 

Christian leaders are also held to a higher standard than the average churchgoer.  There is something special but also a bit fearful when we lead others in the faith.  In our context, a leader's character is critical.  Paul details the requirements to be an elder in the early church; it meant being a person with high integrity.  Church leaders are supposed to be good examples to the flock they guide.  Check out I Peter 5:2-3.  Too often, we have seen public Christian leaders fall from grace, damaging the lives of all those involved in their scandals and damaging the Kingdom at the same time.  Your leaders need your prayers.  It can be a stressful and heavy load.  Pray that they can walk close to God even when (especially when) things are tough.

Chapter 22 concludes the section that details the rules concerning priests.  "Keep my commands and follow them...I am the Lord, who made you holy and brought you out of Egypt..."  What was the priests' motivation to follow all these various rules that God instituted regarding the priesthood, including what they could eat, who they could marry, how they could behave when a loved one died, etc.?  This was the God who led them out of slavery in Egypt!  God was their deliverance and that motivated their faithful service. Of course, our motivation is different. We probably don't think much about the Israelites being delivered out of Egypt, but we do find motivation in the cross.  We serve a God who voluntarily died for us so that we could be reconciled to a holy God.  His amazing love is our motivation for Christian service.

Our last chapter of Leviticus for today details the appointed feasts that God instituted for his people.  These were national celebrations, during which the people of God renewed their allegiance to God.  For the most part, the religious feasts coincided with the agricultural seasons.  I do hope you have read through the chapter and gotten a feel for the religious festivals.  I would suggest you pick one or two and do some deeper research online. These are fascinating! God truly cared about his people, their well-being, and their dedication to him. 

What's interesting to me is that the Sabbath is considered the primary, foundational religious festival.  I guess I've never looked at Sabbath that way, but it was the most celebrated feast (once a week) and it was the basis of all the other feasts.  It was so important that it was included as part of the ten commandments.  The reason I picked this particular feast on which to focus is that we as a society truly struggle with it.  How many of us take one day every single week and set it aside for rest and focusing on God?  I'll be very honest-I am terrible at this!  Since Sunday is a work day for me, I've always said that Friday or Saturday is my Sabbath.  However, it's very tempting to simply work through these days too.  It needs to be done, right?  As I sit here and think about how Sabbath was the foundational religious feast, I'm really convicted.  While I'm not legalistic and I do believe that things are different on this side of the cross, I still think that God designed us to take times for rest.  When do you take your Sabbath day?  Do you treat it as a feast or simply another day?

Okay, let’s spend some time in Hebrews 8. The old priesthood and sacrificial system was part of the Old Covenant, the covenant that God made with Moses and the people of Israel at Mt. Sinai.  God promised to be their king, protect them, bless them, and make them his treasured possession.  In return, the people of Israel were to follow God’s law.  As we have learned from our reading, God’s law was pretty expansive.  It consisted of 613 rules, including both blessings and curses.  When the people were obedient, they were blessed.  When they were disobedient, they were cursed.  The intent of these laws was to change the hearts of people, to help them understand who God was, and what it means to be God’s people.  This didn’t work too well.  Hearts didn’t change and people were disobedient over and over again.  The Old Covenant didn’t help people grow closer to God but rather the opposite happened.  They pulled further away, they separated themselves from God, they bucked up against the rules that were supposed to protect and transform them.

Thus, a New Covenant was necessary, one that was written on the hearts and minds of people rather than on tablets and scrolls.  The prophets spoke about this New Covenant.  When Jesus showed up on the scene in the beginning of the New Testament, the people had been waiting for the fulfillment of the New Covenant for a very long time.  All the signs pointed to the fact that Jesus was the one God promised, he was the fulfillment of the New Covenant.  As our new high priest, he has a ministry that is far superior to the old priesthood.  His sacrifice was for all time, totally perfect and complete.  This New Covenant, which Jesus fulfilled, is based on better promises than the old one.

What are some of these promises?

1.     God’s forgiveness is eternal and complete.  God remembers our sins no more (Heb 8:12, 10:17; Jer. 31:34).  In terms of justification, it’s as if we never did them.  We don’t have to live in shame or fear.  No matter what we have done or will do, living under the New Covenant means we are forgiven.  The slate is wiped clean.  It’s done. The ultimate High Priest, Jesus Christ, took care of it once and for all.

2.     God qualifies us (Col 1:12).  It’s no longer a case of what we do (under the old

covenant) or who we’re related to (under the Abrahamic covenant), but who we trust.  We don’t have to worry about if we’ve done enough good things.  If we believe in Jesus, then tha tis how we receive salvation.  So, we can stop striving to be good enough and simply serve others as a response to what God has done for us.

3.     Jesus has made sure there are no more barriers between us and God (Hebrews 10:19-22).  We are like VIPs, we get a free pass to go directly to God whenever we like.  Under the Old Covenant, you had to go to the tabernacle.  But now, the presence of God is free from the restraints of the tabernacle.  God is present with us and available to us at anytime.  We can walk hand in hand with God

4.     Jesus’ presence is with us (Heb. 13:5 and Matthew 28:20).

5.     God gives us the Holy Spirit to teach us and empower us (Acts 1:8) and remind us of our righteousness (Jn 16:10).Hebrews 10:22 says that not only are we saved, redeemed and restored through Jesus’ precious blood, but under the New Covenant, the Holy Spirit constantly speaks these things to us so that we will have confidence in our relationship with God.

6.     God makes us new people.  We are new creations in him (2 Cor. 5:17).  Under the Old Covenant , hearts were not changed. But with the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, God can begin to change us from the inside out.

7.     Under the New Covenant, God offers us eternal life (John 3:16 & I John 5:13-14).

We have so much to be thankful for.  Let’s chat again tomorrow.

Blessings,

Pastor Vicki