Christ Church (Moscow, ID)

INTRODUCTIONThis chapter closes Leviticus by underlining the true covenant between God and His people through vows. Not only does God take His Word, and the obedience (or disobedience) of His people seriously (cf. Lev. 26), God takes the words of His people seriously. This is why Jesus cautions us against thoughtless vows. God keeps covenant, and His people are to be people of their word.THE TEXT“And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying speaking unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, when a man shall make a singular vow, the persons shall be for the Lord by thy estimation…” (Lev. 27).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTWhen Israel swore vows to the Lord, they would promise to dedicate people or beasts to the service of the Lord or give an offering of equivalent value plus twenty percent (Lev. 26:1-13). Likewise, if a house or land were dedicated to the Lord, it would be considered holy to the Lord, and its value would be reckoned from the year of Jubilee with the fixed value of the tabernacle shekel (Lev. 26:14-25). Only the firstborn of animals could not be redeemed, along with those things devoted to the Lord (Lev. 26:16-34).VOWS THAT HELP & HURTThroughout the Old Testament, God’s people worshipped Him through paying vows (Dt. 12:6ff, Ps. 50:14, 61:8, 66:13, 116:14, Jon. 1:16, Nah. 1:15). These were promises of offerings in response to particular answers to prayer. Jacob vowed to give tithes to the Lord if the Lord kept him safe and brought him home again safely (Gen. 28:20-22). One infamous example is when Jephthah vowed to sacrifice whatever came out to meet him when he returned from battle in peace, and his daughter was the first to greet him (Jdg. 11:30-40). The context of Jephthah’s vow indicates that his daughter was dedicated to service in the tabernacle as a virgin (cf. Jdg. 11:39), not literally sacrificed, but it was still a great grief to the family.In Numbers 30, God says that adult males must not break their vows, but that young women who are still in their father’s house still have the protection of their father hearing and confirming or annulling their vows (Num. 30:4-5). The same protection and forgiveness is granted to a married woman (Num. 30:6-7). But the vows of a widow or divorced woman stand against her (Num. 30:9). When a man annuls the vow of someone in his household, scripture says that he bears the iniquity and it is forgiven (Num. 30:12, 15).This is why Psalm 15 says that the man who dwells on God’s holy hill swears to his own hurt and does not change (Ps. 15:4). When people swear a vow to the Lord, they are invoking His name, and therefore Jesus warns against making vows (Mt. 5:33-37). James warns of the same danger, lest you come into condemnation (Js. 5:12). And yet Paul took a Nazirite vow, and there is no indication of sin (Acts 18:18, cf. Acts 21:23). And Hebrews says that people may swear an oath to solve matters of contention (Heb. 6:16). So we conclude that swearing vows is lawful and sometimes necessary, but vows must be taken seriously because God will hold us accountable.CHRISTIAN VOWSChristians have determined that where the covenant stakes are high, vows are necessary, invoking God’s name, asking God to judge the parties for loyalty or disloyalty. A business contract is one form of this in order to avoid contention. Marriage vows are some of the most important and potent. The wise woman of Proverbs 31 says that her son is the “son of her vows” (Prov. 31:2), and the adulterous woman forsakes her husband by covenant (Prov. 2:17, cf. Mal. 2:14). This is why civil and ecclesiastical leaders also swear vows to fulfill their covenant offices faithfully and why we swear membership and baptismal vows as a congregation. The word “Amen” is also a vow and pledge of loyalty to the Lord (cf. Num. 5:22, Dt. 27:15ff).APPLICATIONSSome are tempted to get wound tight about reading the fine print on a user agreement, but the central point is that because we are made in the image of God, our words are powerful like God’s Word. The power of life and death are in the tongue (Prov. 18:21). The tongue is a fire that sets whole worlds ablaze, full of deadly poison (Js. 3:6-9). We live in a land full of foul words, cursing, and poison, frivolous vows and many lies, and it can be easy to get used to it. You can become accustomed to speaking disrespectfully to or about your husband or wife. You can get used to biting your children with criticism, being angry at parents, or just telling lies. But you are spewing poison, and you are asking for God’s judgment.In our wedding ceremonies, we not only swear to keep ourselves only for our spouse in sexual purity and fidelity, we also swear to “love, honor, and cherish.” Harshness, bitterness, anger, and critical spirits are not a fulfillment of your vows to the Lord. Peter warns husbands in particular that failure to honor wives as the weaker vessel and a co-heir of the grace of life hinders prayer (1 Pet. 3:7). God promises to listen to your words and honor your words as well as you listen to and honor the words of your wife. Elsewhere, God promises to forgive us as we forgive others, and Jesus says that as we do “unto the least of these” we either do or do not do unto Him (Mt. 25:31ff). What kind of words are you serving Jesus?The wisdom from above is pure, peaceable, gentle, easily intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy, and the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace (Js. 3:17-18). Yes, our culture is disintegrating in perversion and bitterness, but you cannot fight fire with fire. The only antidote to words of death and broken vows is the Word of Life and God’s covenant kindness and mercy.Have you been harsh? Have you been critical? Have you made promises and not kept them? Some of the most potent and powerful words are words of confession and forgiveness. Forgiveness is God’s great covenant vow to us in the blood of His Son, and it is the central vow we make and keep that builds Christian culture.

INTRODUCTIONWe have now come to what might be called the crescendo of the great new covenant symphony. The overture was glorious, but it nevertheless fades in our memory as we listen to the part of the performance that God has brought us to now.THE TEXT“But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious. Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished . . .” (2 Cor. 3:7–18).A QUICK CORRECTIONBefore summarizing the text, we need to begin with a correction of a common misconception about this passage. That misconception is that Moses put a veil on his face so that the Israelites would not realize how transient his radiance was. This is thought because of a mistranslation of a verb that occurs three times here (vv. 7, 11, 13). In this understanding, the radiance of Moses’ countenance drained, like a battery drains, and he would then go into the tabernacle to meet with God, and to recharge. This is not correct; the verb used here (katargeo) does not actually have the meaning of “to fade away.” The children of Israel could not look at the glory of the ministry of death, a ministry that was going to be rendered inoperative, or be made obsolete.SUMMARY OF THE TEXTThe law was a ministry of death. Graven in stones, external to the heart, all it could do was kill you. Nevertheless, this killing law was glorious, and the Israelites couldn’t even look at it (v. 7). This glory, the glory of the law, was to be done away. How much more glorious will the ministry of the Spirit have to be then (v. 8)? If the ministry of condemnation was glorious, how much surpassing glory would the ministry of imputed righteousness have (v. 9)? Like a bright moon that fades when the sun rises, the former glory pales in comparison (v. 10). If the temporary ministry of condemnation was glorious, why would the permanent ministry of imputed righteousness not be much more glorious (v. 11)? All of this is the basis of Paul’s plain speaking (v. 12). Paul could do what Moses couldn’t, which was to minister the glory which both of them had (v. 13). Israel couldn’t even look at their glory. The reason was that their minds were blinded, down to Paul’s day. For them the veil remained in the reading of the law, but the veil is removed in Christ (v. 14). He repeats that down to his day, when Moses is read, the veil is on their hearts (v. 15). When they turn to Christ, the veil is lifted (v. 16). The Lord is the Spirit who brings the liberty of being able to handle glory (v. 17). But we, like Moses in the tabernacle, worship the Lord with unveiled faces, and are ourselves transformed by the work of the Spirit (v. 18).A GLORY THAT KILLSThe common reading that I rejected a moment ago has the problem of making Moses a manipulator and deceiver. He didn’t want the people to realize that his glory was not permanent, and so he hid the fading of that glory away. Or worse, Moses was not the deceiver, but Paul interpreted that episode in such a way as made Moses out to be a liar.“And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him. And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him: and Moses talked with them. And afterward all the children of Israel came nigh: and he gave them in commandment all that the Lord had spoken with him in mount Sinai. And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a vail on his face. But when Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he took the vail off, until he came out. And he came out, and spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded. And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone: and Moses put the vail upon his face again, until he went in to speak with him” (Exodus 34:29–35).The passage in Exodus doesn’t have any hint of Moses trying to hide the fact that his radiance would fade. He wore the veil because his radiance was frightening to the children of Israel, and it was hard for them to come near. This is the ministry of death, remember, according to Paul. The law is not sin, but the law is death to sinners. Two chapters earlier, in the aftermath of the golden calf fiasco, three thousand Israelites were killed (Ex. 32:26-28). God had told them in the previous chapter that He would not go with them, lest He have to consume them in the way (Ex. 33:3, 5). Moses was veiling them from a glory that kills.WHAT IS PAUL'S ILLUSTRATION ABOUT THEN?Moses was not being deceptive about the glory that would fade, but some of his ostensible heirs most certainly werebeing deceptive about it. When the law was read, the unbelieving Jews could not see the condition of their Ichabod-hearts. The veil covers the face, and in his illustration, the heart is the face (v. 15). They cannot see the true condition of their heart. When the law was being read, a veil was over their heart, preventing them from seeing what the law was saying about their heart.But we, with open face (heart), are looking at the glory of the Lord. We are in the same position that Moses was in during his visits to the tabernacle. This is why we are being transformed from glory to glory. And why? Because you become like what you worship—which means we can look ahead. God is giving us the “light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6).

The habit of modern man is to act based on his feelings, instead of action based on fact. The Disney catechism has worked its way deeply into our culture: follow your heart. We are the foolish man, building on the sands of emotion, instead of the rock of the Word. The pile of grievances swept under the cultural rug is getting quite obvious. Yet no one knows how to actually sweep out the grime, because no one feels like humbling themselves.

We live in a day when human interaction is too often mediated via screens and satellites. The scheming of wicked men aim to further isolate us, control us, and convince us it is all for our health and safety. Christian hospitality, in this era and all others, is an act of war on the rebel city of Man.

INTRODUCTIONChristians can grow sluggish in their Christianity. They can start to loosen their grip on the faith once for all delivered to the saints. And they can do this as recipients of the heavy blessing of God. Cotton Mather once said, “Religion begat prosperity and the daughter devoured the mother.” Moses said something similar. He sang of God making his people ride on the high places of the earth that they might eat the increase of the fields. And then, “Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked” (Deuteronomy 32:15).The solution of course is not to go on a diet from the blessings of God. The solution is to truly taste and see that the Lord is good and so give thanks. That’s the logic of the text before us. The original hearers, like us today, needed to pay closer attention to what God had said to them and done for them through his Son (ch. 2:1-3). And where we will we get strength to do that? In God’s Son (ch. 1:1-14)THE TEXTHebrews 1–2:3.SUMMARY OF THE TEXTPaul begins by pointing out that God spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets (v. 1). And he contrasts God’s manner of speaking back then with his manner of speaking in “these last days” (v. 2). In these last days, God has spoken to the saints by his Son. Many things are acknowledged of this Son through whom God spoke to his people: He has been appointed heir of all things, not just some things (v. 2). He was the one through whom God made the worlds (v. 2). He is the brightness of God’s glory, and his express image such that if you have seen Jesus Christ then you have seen the Father (v. 3). This Son upholds all things by the word of his power, the same all things that he is inheriting, remember (v. 3). This Son purged our sins and is sat down at the right hand of God on high (v. 3).The Son of God has obtained a better “name” than angels (v. 4). Now, this assertion can be confusing. Why does it need to be made? Doesn’t everyone already know that the Son of God is better than the angels? Well, yes, they do. Paul isn’t speaking to the supremacy of Christ’s divine nature to the angels. He’s speaking to the supremacy of the Godman, Jesus Christ, and particularly his mediatorial office as the Godman.This idea is further expressed in verse 5 and 6. In verse 6, the angels of God worship the Son when God brings him into the world. The point is not simply that the angels worship the second member of the Trinity. The point is they worship the Son of God made flesh. In verse 5, Paul signals that God has not exalted any angel like he has the Son. For God said to the Son, “Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.” Paul is quoting Psalm 2 here. And the “begottenness” happened on a “day.” And that needs explaining. (Remember Peter said that Paul wrote things hard to understand).When the Apostle John refers to the “only begotten Son” in John 3:16, he speaks of Christ’s eternal Sonship to the Father. That eternal Sonship is, of course, eternal. Therefore, it did not happen on “a day.” Psalm 2 and Hebrews 1:5 speak to a different begotteness, a different thing. Psalm 2 signals that “this day” was the day of Christ’s resurrection. And the begotteness refers to the Father raising the Son from the dead. Paul makes this very clear in Acts 13:33. He cites this same verse from Psalm 2 while referring to the Father raising the Son from the dead. God has not done the same for angels, they are ministering spirits (v. 7).Several Old Testament texts are referenced as Paul points out the supremacy of the Son. God the Father says many things of the Son. He speaks of the Son’s never-ending throne (v. 8), his love of righteousness, hatred of iniquity, and exceeding gladness (v. 9). The Son laid the foundation of the earth, built the heavens with his hands, and will remain after they grow old and he folds them up like a dress (v. 10-12). Christ is better than angels for he has ascended to the right hand of God with his enemies being made his footstool, while the angels minister to Christ’s people (v. 14).The application of all of this is that the saints must pay closer attention to what God has said through this exalted Son, lest we let his words to us slip (ch. 2:1). If God’s word delivered by angels in time past was so steadfast that every disobedience was punished, how much more will be the case for those who neglect the great salvation brought by Christ himself (ch. 2:2-3)?CHRIST WHO PURGED OUR SINSPaul’s logic runs something like this: Would you leave God? Would you slip away from him? May it never be! God has not only saved you. He has saved you through his Son.The passage is not concerned with the supremacy of Christ abstractly considered. It is not merely a matter of putting God’s Son on one side of the scales and the prophets and angels on the other side. The Son, whose supremacy is in view, is the Son who purged our sins. He is the Son of God who entered the world. He is the Son who was “made a little lower than the angels” and then was raised from the dead and exalted above the angels as the Godman. And when he was raised up there in the heavens, he took you all with him for you are seated with Christ in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6).This Christ is not merely the Word spoken to you that you must hear. He is the Word that binds you. What does he bind you to? He binds you to God. Would you slip away from God’s word? It is the Word made flesh that binds you to God. Would you loosen your hold on the Word? It is the word that upholds you and all things.THE LAST DAYS AND OUR DAYSPaul says that God has spoken to his people by his Son “in these last days.” These “last days” can be easily misunderstood. So a word about them is in order. We do not live in these last days. And these last days are not in our future. Rather, these “last days” refer to the Jewish age or the old covenant. When Paul wrote, the Romans were soon to destroy the temple in Jerusalem. The destruction of that temple was an act of God signifying the vanishing of the old covenant. Jesus referred to this in Matthew 24:1-2 when he said to his disciples that not one stone of the temple would be left on another.That temple destruction was not merely about the destruction of temple worship. It signified the removal of the old covenant, the end of an age. We see Paul expressing this same idea later in the book in Hebrews 8:13. There he speaks of a new covenant that God is making. And he writes, “In that he saith, a new covenant, he made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.”That old covenant was glorious. It was so glorious that Paul says “the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance” (2 Corinthians 3:7). But, he adds that this old covenant glory was coming to an end. And it would be replaced with a new covenant that was even more glorious.You live in the epoch of the seen Christ, of the revealed mystery. The veil of the temple has been torn in two. You live in the time of the gathering together into one both things in heaven and things on earth. You are members of the new covenant. And the Virgin-born Son of God is the mediator of this new covenant and Lord over all things in this new covenant era.You live in the days after the last days. And they are days of great wonder and glory. How then should you live? You should give more earnest heed to the things God your Father has said to you through his Son (Hebrews 2:1).PROPHETS, ANGELS, AND GOD’S SONSpeaking about the word of God, Paul stirs up the saints to reverence for that word by contrasting the various ways God has delivered his word to his people. In time past, God spoke by prophets. And in time past, he spoke “by angels” (ch. 2:2). And the word that he spoke by prophets and angels was steadfast. We’re not dealing with a shaky word back then and a stable word here and now. We’re dealing with a rock-solid word back then, (the kind of rock you could build a house on), and diamond-hard Mount Everest word here and now (the kind that supports the world-wide growth of an everlasting kingdom).In both cases, God speaks. The contrast is not between prophets and angels themselves speaking in the old and the Son speaking in the new. The contrast is that God spoke by prophets and angels in the old. And he has now spoken by his Son in the new. Think book publishing. There is an author from whom the word originates and there is a publisher of that word.Paul says in Galatians 3:19 that the law was “ordained by angels.” God spoke the law by these angels on Mount Sinai. John Owen said these angles “raised the fire and smoke; they shook and rent the rocks; they framed the sound of the trumpet . . . and therein proclaimed and published the law.” Not many men would not complain about having an angel as his publisher. That’s a sure word.How much more then ought we to take confidence in the word published by the Son of God, the Word made flesh? Take this to heart. Man often cast his doubts in a humble light, “I just don’t know. I haven’t quite made up my mind, still exploring.” We often do the same with anxiety. But the doubting man and anxious woman do not doubt an idea. They do not doubt a sentence in the sky. They doubt a person, and his name is the Lord Jesus Christ.This is the only way to snap out of your worrisome unbelief. God the Father says, “This is my beloved Son, Listen to him!” God said that on the mount as Jesus was transfigured and his face shone as the sun. And his face still shines today. So, hear him. He’s the Living Christ. Hear him.The only appropriate response to this word from God is that of the disciples on that mount, “The fell on their face and were sore afraid” (Matthew 17:6). That’s it. No more huffing and puffing, no more what-iffing. Hear him and fall on your face in fear.THE ETERNAL THRONE AND KINGDOMWe have every reason to because this Christ through whom God speaks to us not only purged our sin. He not only ushered in the new covenant era. And he not only is superior to prophets and angels. He has been raised up and seated on an eternal throne (ch. 1:8). And he is a happy king, anointed with the oil of gladness.This king rules over his kingdom. And here is glory, you are in that kingdom. Look around, you are fellow members in that kingdom. And the kingdom that we find ourselves in will be around after Christ folds up the heavens like a curtain on moving day. The Palouse hills will be wrapped up like a bed sheet. And the kingdom we are in right now will still be here. And the King of this kingdom will still be here.Do you feel shaky? That’s because things are being shaken. Well who is doing the shaking? God is. He says so in this very book, “Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven” (Hebrews 12:26). Do you feel breakable like a clay pot? That’s because you are a clay pot. Do you feel like a brick that could be pulverized if dropped from too high up? That’s because you are a brick. You are a brick being placed one upon another. And you are a dwelling place for God. The designer and builder of this house is God. He is building this eternal kingdom and we are receiving it even now, “And this word, yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:27-28).

We know that we need to confess our sin. But we often think that we are simply speaking the truth about our sin into the void. The truth, however, is that God is intricately involved in our confession. All things are from him, through him, and to him, including the confession of our sin.

INTRODUCTIONWe are now coming to a passage that teaches us where the spiritual action really is. Do you want to be right with God? It is not going to happen because you got all your papers in order, and then got them stamped. “Right with God” is a judicial category, but not a bureaucratic one.We must learn two things. The letter kills and the Spirit gives life. But secondly, the Spirit gives life to the letter. We must have two things; we must have a new covenant, and we must have a new heart. And all these things go together.THE TEXT“Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you? Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward: Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.” (2 Corinthians 3:1–6).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTPaul asks, “Are you really going to make me talk about myself? Are you going to make me address things that you already know” (v. 1)? Do the Corinthians think he needs a letter of recommendation (like some people Paul could mention)? What are they talking about? Paul says that they are his walking, living, breathing letter of recommendation (v. 2), written on the hearts of the apostolic company. The tablets were hearts, but the manner of writing was not ink for papyrus, and not a chisel for stone, but rather the writing utensil was the Spirit of God (v. 3). Paul then states his confidence (v. 4), which is toward God in Christ. The same Paul who just a few sentences before had cried out who is sufficient? now says that while he is not sufficient in himself, he is nevertheless sufficient through God (v. 5). God is the one who has made him a minister of the new covenant—not of the letter, but of the Spirit. The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life (v. 6).GANDALF AND THE BALROGEvery finite servant of God has a breaking point. That is what it means to be finite. And because God tests His servants, He takes them right up to that limit. Why? Well, remember what we saw in the first chapter— “But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead” (2 Cor. 1:9). God wants to squeeze all the self-sufficiency out of His servants. “You, my son, are still entirely too perky.” Some men are too talented to use, but absolutely no one is too weak to use. Did Jeremiah feel sufficient (Jer. 1:6)? Did Moses feel sufficient (Ex. 4:10-17)? Did Ezekiel feel sufficient (Eze. 1:1-3:11)? Did Gideon feel sufficient (Judg. 6:15)? Did Isaiah feel sufficient (Is. 6:1-7)? Did Paul feel sufficient (v. 16)? Who is sufficient for these things?But by the same token, and for this reason, we see that Paul had supreme confidence in his sufficiency in Christ. “Our sufficiency is of God” (v. 5). In other words, when you come to the end of yourself, you have not come to the end of Christ.THE FINGER OF GODPaul says here that the letter he is talking about was inscribed by the Holy Spirit himself. Now the Holy Spirit is equated in Scripture with the finger of God. “But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you.” (Luke 11:20). “But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.” (Matt. 12:28).But who inscribed the Ten Commandments on the tablets of stone?“And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God” (Exodus 31:18; Dt. 9:10).THE LETTER KILLSSo the problem with “letters that kill” is not the fact that they are letters. The letters written on our hearts are letters. And the problem with “these letters that kill” is not who wrote them. The Spirit is the one who wrote them on the tablets of stone. The difficulty is where the letters are written. When they are written on stone, external to the sinner, they do nothing but condemn, and the truer they are, the more condemnation they bring. When the law is “out there,” the law is my adversary.So the external letter kills, but the Spirit brings life. But one of the things the Spirit brings life to is the letter. He does this by inscribing His letters on the human heart.There are two fundamental features of the new covenant, the covenant that occupies such a large part of Paul’s argument here. Jeremiah’s promise of the new covenant is quoted in full in Hebrews 8 (Heb. 8:8-12; Jer. 31:31-34). But when it is quoted again two chapters later, the pull quotes highlight the two great features of the new covenant. They are, first, that the new covenant brings forgiveness of sin (Heb. 10:17), and second, the new covenant brings an internalization of the law (Heb. 10:16). And that’s what we are talking about here.When God writes His law on our hearts, something remarkable happens. Not only is thou shalt love thy brother written on your heart, your brother is also written on your heart. Remember that Paul begins this section by saying that the Corinthians were written on his heart.When the law is internalized, this brings the sinner to life. And when the law is internalized, this brings the letters to life. What happened to the handwriting of ordinances that was against us? God gathered them up and nailed them to the cross (Col. 2:14). But what happens to anything that is nailed to the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ? That is right—it rises from the dead. The only thing that doesn’t rise again is the sin itself. But the law? The condemnation? The black despair of never being good enough? The accusations? All of that is “nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more, praise the Lord, praise the Lord, oh, my soul.”That law that used to condemn you is raised again with you, and is now your liberty, your refreshment, your pleasant instructor. His name is Jesus Christ.

The Church has failed in our obedience to conform to the duties which accompany how God made us as males and females. May God grant us humility to lead where we are called to lead, and to submit where we are called to submit. And may He present us unto the Son a bride without spot or blemish.

INTRODUCTIONPart of the advantage of taking larger sections together is seeing how seemingly different laws actually fit together. Here, we have a passage that begins with worship, flows out into criminal justice, and concludes with Israelite economic policies. The overarching point is that justice and economics are always thoroughly theological matters. We are always appealing to God or some god, when we adjudicate crimes, buy, sell, lease, or forgive. There is always an ultimate standard. It is not whether but which.THE TEXT“And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, command the children of Israel that they bring unto thee pure oil olive beat for the light…” (Lev. 24-25).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTGod reminds His people the covenant with Him is their light and life, and so they were to picture that continually with candles and bread in the holy place (Lev. 24:1-9). Because God’s covenant is the source of light and life, His law prohibits blasphemy, and therefore, depending on its severity, can be a capital crime because it is an attack on life itself (Lev. 24:10-23). Related to this principle, was the requirement of sabbath years where fields were left fallow, culminating in the fiftieth year of jubilee (Lev. 25:1-12). In the year of jubilee, rural lands and houses were returned to their original owners, creating a fifty year lease/rent cycle, with the Levites and cities excepted (Lev. 25:13-17, 29-34). God promised that obedience to these laws would cause the land to be blessed, and that Israel would dwell in safety (Lev. 25:18-22). These sabbath years also included the forgiveness of debts and the release of debt slaves (Lev. 25:25-28, 35-46). But debt slaves could always be redeemed by their close relatives (Lev. 25:47-55).OIL & BREAD, BLASPHEMY & JUSTICEJesus said that He is the Light of the World (Jn. 8:12) and He is the Bread of Life (Jn. 6:48). In Him is life; and the life is the light of men (Jn. 1:4). But this is not merely a “spiritual” or “religious” fact. He made all things (Jn. 1:3), and therefore it applies to all things. His light and life show the way to the Father, and that fellowship is light for the world (cf. 1 Jn. 1:7). His light and life are for justice, economics, finances, debt, planting, harvest, restitution, redemption, safety, and blessing.We noted previously that murder is the one mandatory capital crime in biblical law but a possible maximum penalty for other crimes. That principle is underlined here, since they needed to inquire of the Lord to see what the appropriate penalty would be for the blasphemy (Lev. 24:12). The following verses, reinforce the lex talionis (“eye for eye”) principles of restitution, prohibiting all personal vengeance, and applied equally to all (Lev. 24:17-21). Between the blasphemy and physical altercation, this crime amounted to murder, and was not just a casual taking of the Lord’s name in vain. It was high-handed covenant treason. We see the results all around us of not learning the lesson here: you cannot have life, liberty, or justice for all apart from honoring the Triune God who is their source. Blasphemy laws are inescapable; it’s not whether but which.SINS, DEBTS, & LIBERTYWhen men reject the living God and His Word, sin does not go away, it merely gets renamed and new (false) gospels are invented to pretend to deal with it. Freud taught that since sexual sin caused guilt and shame, people should be free to do whatever they want so they don’t feel bad and do bad things. Secular statists believe that people commit crimes because they are poor or don’t have equal opportunities, therefore, the state must provide universal basic income and enforce equal opportunities, including things like abortions, universal day care, parental leave, social security, and reparations. Related is voting to legalize sins and crimes to try to make everyone feel better. The problem with all of this is that it doesn’t work. Giving into sin/approving sin never actually deals with sin. There is no forgiveness of sins without the shedding of blood, but it must be the blood of perfectly pleasing sacrifice (Heb. 9). And the blood of babies, broken families, and other victims cannot take away sin. Government programs are not real grace. But it is true that real grace deals with real sin in the real world and it affects everything from public policy to taxation to inheritance laws and restitution.CONCLUSIONSJesus came proclaiming “the acceptable year of the Lord,” the great Jubilee (Lk. 4:18-19). He came doing this centrally through proclaiming the forgiveness of sins that He was about to accomplish in the Cross. This is not because He didn’t care about poverty or injustice but because He knew that sin/guilt is at the root of all of it. Remember that the seventh month was the month of the Day of Atonement/Feast of Booths, and the seventh years and jubilees (with their trumpets) were echoes of that. All liberty and justice flow from the Great Atonement in the blood of Christ.This freedom and justice begin at the Cross restoring fellowship between God and man, but it flows out into the world. Jesus taught His disciples to pray, “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” This is a prayer for Jubilee. Do you want liberty and justice in the public square? Then practice it in your heart, in your home, in the church. And remember that the foundation of it all is forgiveness and release.Jesus is our Kinsman Redeemer, our Great Boaz, who has paid all our debts and set us free, and He has set us free so that we might do the same for others. Practice forgiveness/grace. Practice sabbath and diligence in your work. Keep the light and life of Jesus central. He has purchased us and the ends of the earth for His possession. We belong to Christ, and He will keep us safe.

Text: Hebrews 4