Leviticus 19:19
“You shall keep My statutes. You shall not let your livestock breed with another kind. You shall not sow your field with mixed seed. Nor shall a garment of mixed linen and wool come upon you.”

One of the primary purposes of the book of Leviticus is to teach us that God is holy, and requires holiness from His people. The opening verse of chapter 19 declares, “‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.” Holiness carries the idea of being set apart. Something that is holy, is something set apart for the Lord’s use. In the same way, someone who is holy has set themselves apart from anything that would defile them, so they might be fit for use by the Lord. As Moses explains the details of how to live a holy life, he speaks to the people regarding their…

Leviticus 18:2-5
“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘I am the Lord your God. According to the doings of the land of Egypt, where you dwelt, you shall not do; and according to the doings of the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you, you shall not do; nor shall you walk in their ordinances. You shall observe My judgments and keep My ordinances, to walk in them: I am the Lord your God. You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.”

Israel needed to learn a very important lesson if they were going to be successful in walking with the Lord. That lesson: the Word of God is counter-cultural in every culture. They were being called to live by a different, and higher standard than the nation they came out…

Luke 10:2

“The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few”

Sadly, the world has no shortage of those who are in need of Christ. Our population has reached the seven billion mark. Seven billion souls walking this planet, many of whom do not yet know Christ. We recognize certain places in the world as being unreached. Places where many, or even most, of the citizens are yet to hear the good news of salvation, through faith in Christ. We need to pray, send, and provide for those who go to the uttermost parts of the earth with the Good News of Christ. However, we cannot neglect to remember the many unreached souls in our own backyard. Here, in Luke 10, as Jesus sends the seventy, we have some practical instruction on how to reach the lost.

Two by two he sent them. Fellowship and accountability are crucial to effectively serving…

Leviticus 17:7
“They shall no more offer their sacrifices to demons, after whom they have played the harlot. This shall be a statute forever for them throughout their generations.”

I recently received a phone call from someone claiming to be a representative from the Internal Revenue Service, who explained that I was delinquent on payments, and in danger of facing jail time. Instead of panicking, I asked for a phone number to call them back, then researched to see if that was a valid IRS number. I discovered it was a fraudulent number, and this was a scam. The perpetrators were attempting to get financial records and steal my money. Sadly, this is not the only case where someone lies about who they are in order to deceive someone else.

The Bible teaches, there is only one God, and all others who claim to be God, are impostors making false claims. Those who…

Leviticus 16:21-22
“Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man. The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness.”

Once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the High Priest was allowed to enter into the Holiest chamber of the Tabernacle. His responsibility was to provide sin offerings for himself and the people. The activities of this day provided atonement for the sins of the nation. Every aspect of the day was filled with symbolism that pointed to the work of Christ upon the cross. It was on this day…

Luke 8:10
“ To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God…”

I love a good mystery; as a child I had a book titled “2 Minute Mysteries.” It was a book of short stories, in which a crime would be described and the reader was left to guess who was the guilty party. The trick was, the answer was hidden. There was always something tucked away that was hard to find, almost like a secret that revealed the answer. I would try so hard to guess correctly, but most often, when I flipped to the back of the book for the answer I found my guess was wrong. When Jesus speaks of the “Mysteries of the Kingdom” He is not speaking of a secret truth that only a few can understand by reading their Bibles with a special code. Jesus is telling His disciples that…

Leviticus 14:1-2

“Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘This shall be the law of the leper for the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought to the priest.'”

Moses was given detailed instructions regarding the offerings required for a person who was healed of leprosy. This passage of Scripture, though somewhat tedious, is remarkable when we consider the fact that leprosy was incurable in the ancient world. The law of God contained provisions encouraging the people to expect Him to do the miraculous. A person diagnosed with leprosy could find hope in the power and promises of God. We often face difficulties in which there seems to be no hope. Rather than living in despair, or grasping at straws, we must learn to look into the Word, and trust in its promises. The hope Scripture brings is like an anchor for the soul; providing stability in troublesome times…

Luke 7:40
“Simon, I have something to say to you.”

The event which occurs in the house of Simon the Pharisee stands out to me as one of the most fascinating in the New Testament. No miraculous healing takes place: the deaf do not hear, the blind do not see, nor are the dead raised. Yet this story is both priceless and timeless in the truth it reveals. It is the story of two people and their view of Jesus. Simon was a religious man that showed interest in Jesus. He valued Jesus more than many of his contemporaries.

While other religious leaders were plotting the death of Jesus, Simon was opening his home to Him. He was willing to invite Jesus in, dine with Him, and listen to what He had to say. Then there is the woman. She is quite different from Simon. She is described simply as a…

Leviticus 13:45
“Now the leper on whom the sore is, his clothes shall be torn and his head bare; and he shall cover his mustache, and cry, ‘Unclean! Unclean! ’”

Leprosy is a skin disease that effects the nervous system; resulting in spreading rash-like symptoms, disfiguration, pain, and ultimately, death. Because leprosy is contagious, the nation of Israel was instructed to quarantine lepers until they were healed. Since leprosy was incurable in the ancient world, it would require an act of God for a leper to be healed. Because of the similarities in the growth, spread, and debilitating effects of the disease, leprosy has been considered to be an illustration of sin and it’s consequences.

David Guzik draws the following parallels between leprosy and sin:

· It begins as nothing.
· It is painless in its first stages.
· It grows slowly.
· It often remits for a while and then returns.

Leviticus 12:7
“Then he shall offer it before the Lord, and make atonement for her. And she shall be clean from the flow of her blood. This is the law for her who has borne a male or a female.”

After conception a woman was considered unclean and her access to the congregation was limited. In order to be restored back into fellowship she had to wait out a period of uncleanness, then bring the appropriate offering. When this was accomplished, her fellowship was restored. Since we live under a new covenant these requirements no longer apply. For us, fellowship is not broken by giving birth, nor is it restored by offering turtle doves or pigeons. That does not mean we cannot do things that will effect our relationship with God, nor does it mean there is a waiting period for a believer who stumbles.

Isaiah 59 states,
“Behold, the…