The King’s English

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Deuteronomy 6:1-9

“Feelings are feelings, they’re neither right nor wrong, it’s what you do with them that counts.”

How often have you heard this kind of sentiment?  (And interestingly, it is a sentiment!).

You’re as likely to hear it in church as anywhere else these days.  Even Christians will say that feelings are outside moral categories, what counts are acts of the will. According to this philosophy, all matters of the heart are ethically neutral.  Therefore the Christian life is about forgetting your feelings and getting on with the hard slog of discipleship.

But that’s not what we see in the Bible.  In fact throughout the Bible we see all sorts of expectations for our emotional life.  We’re meant to feel contentment  (Exodus 20:17), heart-felt love (1 Peter 1:22), peace (Colossians 3:15), zeal (Romans 12:11); sorrow and joy (Romans 12:12; Philippians 4:4), desire (1 Peter 2:2), gratitude (Ephesians 5:19,20), to name just a few.

And right at the heart of the Old Testament we have this saying, known traditionally as “the shema“.  To a Jew these are probably the most famous words of Scripture, the ones they are most likely to know by heart.  Jesus Himself quotes it, calling it ‘the first and greatest commandment’ (Matthew 22:37). But these words put a bomb under our cultural stoicism:

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. (Deuteronomy 6:4-5)

There is a logic to the verse: Because of God’s oneness we are to love.  As we discussed when we thought about “one flesh” – the way God is one is like the way husband and wife are “one.”  They are united in love.  And as this verse says, “the LORD, our God, the LORD” is one.  God is one because God is love.  And God is love because God is Trinity.

Therefore “thou shalt love.”  That’s the logic.  To know God is to become godly.  And to be godly is to love.

The first and greatest commandment is directed emphatically at our affections.  We ought to be lovers of God, with our heart, soul and might.

The heart speaks of our innermost being.  It’s about what we treasure.  (Matthew 6:21)

The “soul” is the same word in Hebrew as “throat”.  It’s about what we thirst for.

Our “might” is, literally, our “muchness”.  It’s about our whole person given over to God.

The LORD does not want will-driven stoics but warm-hearted lovers.  This is the essence of the Good Life which God has for us.

Of course commandments can never make us love God.  Yet this is a true description of the Good Life.  And it’s not about grim-faced determination to do right.  It’s about love – heart-felt, thirsty, mighty love!

Have we settled for something less?  Have we relegated our emotions to the basement of the Christian life?  Perhaps we know that our feelings are there, we just don’t think of them as belonging to our discipleship.  Well allow the first and greatest commandment to challenge us, and to challenge us at the heart!  Love is central, vital, indispensible – the “heart and soul” of our walk with God.

To be clear – the law cannot whip up these feelings and neither can we.  It’s only when we see God’s love for us, expressed in Jesus, that our hearts are won:

We love him, because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19)

But when we appreciate His love, this is what is birthed in us – not strong-willed determination but heart-felt affections.  If love is not central to our gospel response, perhaps we’ve got the wrong gospel.  The Christian life is an affair of the heart.

Numbers 23:13-26

“What hath God wrought” was the first message Samuel Morse tapped out on his new invention.  It’s almost certainly that fact (more than its original appearance in Scripture) that lies behind its fame.

Interestingly, today if it’s said at all, it refers more to terrible tragedies than great discoveries.  (Perhaps that reflects a different view of God, or technology, or both!)

When we think of a mighty act of God we think of a disaster.  Morse thought of an invention.  But in the Bible God’s work is a whole lot more personal.  As we’ll see, what God “hath wrought” is a people – an unbreakable, forever-blessed people.

The phrase appears in Numbers chapter 23.  The Moabite, Balaam, has been contracted as a freelance prophet to curse the Israelites.  But when King Balak makes his second demand for a magical malediction, here’s what Balaam says:

Rise up, Balak, and hear; hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor: God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?  Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it.  He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the LORD his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them.  God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn. Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought! (Numbers 23:18-23)

Balaam is stressing the resolute character of God.  There is a work to which God is immovably committed: He has determined to bless the seed of Abraham.  Nothing can undo this blessing.  No coercion from outside (an enchantment or divination) and no u-turn from within (God’s repentance) will thwart this.

What God hath wrought is a people.  He has blessed this people, saved this people, and even after all we’ve seen, He refuses to credit them with “iniquity” or “perverseness”!  No foreign power can ruin God’s work and not even their own sin can spoil it.  The LORD makes it His crowning achievement to create a people for Himself.

What is God’s great work?  The Grand Canyon?  The blue whale?  No His great work is to build a family.  The Father has blessed His Son forever, filling Him with His eternal Spirit.  And He has forever desired brothers and sisters for His Son (Romans 8:29).  His work of redemption is to sweep these up by His Spirit into His Son that they may be blessed in the Beloved.

If you belong to Christ you are a member of this uncurseable people (Galatians 3:29).  You are eternally secure.  God will not repent of His work.  Your sin will not cost you your position.  No dark art can dislodge you from your place.  You are some piece of work!

Behold, what God hath wrought!

Numbers 22:31-40

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When we say “I fell flat on my face” we’re usually speaking figuratively.

The young romantic might say, “I tried to impress her with my scant knowledge of Shakespeare. Turns out, she has a PhD in English Literature. I fell flat on my face!”

We use the phrase to indicate embarrassment.  But in the Bible, falling on one’s face is always literal.  And it is moved by something a lot stronger than social awkwardness.

To fall flat on one’s face happens just the once in the King James translation – Numbers 22:31.  But that’s the phrase that has entered common parlance.

Balaam is the one to have fallen flat on his face.  And in his case, he falls in shame.

As we saw yesterday, he has just been rebuked by his own donkey.  Then…

the LORD opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and he bowed down his head, and fell flat on his face.”  (Numbers 22:31)

Here is a revelation of Christ – the Angel of the LORD.  He is the Word of the Father, the Radiance of God’s Glory, the Eternal Bridegroom, the Commander of the LORD’s Host, the King of kings and Lord of lords. He’s the same one who met Abraham in Genesis 17, Moses inExodus 3, Joshua in Joshua 5, Isaiah in Isaiah 6, Peter in Luke 5, Paul in Acts 9 and John in Revelation 1.

On all these occasions, there’s an overwhelming weight of glory.  Their strength gave way and they fell flat on their faces.  When Christ appears in glory, no-one can stand. Knees buckle, chests sink, arms go limp and faces hit the floor.

For Balaam it was a shaming.  For those listed above, it was worship.  But everyone falls when Christ is revealed in glory.

Today, look around you.  There are those who walk tall in this life but have no love for Jesus.  They will be brought low.

Then there are those who are down at heel yet they trust in Christ.  They will fall in wonder and be lifted in mercy.

One day soon we will all be flat on our faces – some to everlasting shame, others to everlasting joy and gratitude.

At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;  And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:10-11)

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Numbers 22:21-30

Christianity is big business today.  Speakers can command live audiences of tens, even hundreds of thousands.  Millions more can watch their videos or buy their books.  What should we make of their popularity?  How should we assess their ministry?

Balaam’s ass is in the Bible to remind us that speaking spiritual words does not guarantee a speaker’s spirituality!

Balaam was a Moabite who lived at the time of the Israelites’ wilderness wanderings.  He was a prophet whose services were sought by his king, Balak.  Balak was worried that the Israelites were a threat to Moab so he asks Balaam to curse Israel.  He says of Balaam:

he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed. (Numbers 22:6)

Balak seems to think that Balaam is a kind of Abraham figure – that he has the power to bless and curse peoples (cf Genesis 12:1-3).  But when Balaam himself consults the LORD he’s told:

thou shalt not curse the people: for they are blessed.  (Numbers 22:12)

Whatever powers Balaam is said to have, the seed of Abraham is uncurseable!  The LORD has blessed the seed of Abraham and has blessed it irreversibly.

In the next couple of days we’ll see what happens when Balaam is brought before Balak and asked to call down these curses.  But our incident for today happens on the road there.  Whatever awe Balaam is held in by his own people, the Scriptures take him down a peg or two.

The prophet is riding his donkey, but when the Angel of the LORD (Christ Himself!) turns up on the road, we see just how much spiritual insight he has.  The donkey sees Christ, the prophet is blind.

And the ass saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and the ass turned aside out of the way, and went into the field: and Balaam smote the ass, to turn her into the way. But the angel of the LORD stood in a path of the vineyards, a wall being on this side, and a wall on that side. And when the ass saw the angel of the LORD, she thrust herself unto the wall, and crushed Balaam’s foot against the wall: and he smote her again.  And the angel of the LORD went further, and stood in a narrow place, where was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left.  And when the ass saw the angel of the LORD, she fell down under Balaam: and Balaam’s anger was kindled, and he smote the ass with a staff.  (Numbers 22:23-27)

This great man – lauded by multitudes and known as a spiritual leader – can’t see the Prophet of prophets.  But not only does a donkey prove to have better spiritual sight, he also has better speech too.  To shame this prophet even further, the LORD allows Balaam’s ass to rebuke him:

And the LORD opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times?  And Balaam said unto the ass, Because thou hast mocked me: I would there were a sword in mine hand, for now would I kill thee.  And the ass said unto Balaam, Am not I thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day? was I ever wont to do so unto thee? And he said, Nay.  (Numbers 22:28-30)

It’s so comical!  The donkey speaks, and Balaam speaks back as though nothing strange has happened. Then the donkey wins the argument: All the prophet can say in reply is “Nay!”

Here’s the message: Yes, ‘spiritual men’ can speak arresting words.  They can even speak true words.  And millions may listen to them.  But even if they occasionally speak truth, it is only what the LORD has allowed to be said.  And the credit never lies with such speakers. The LORD can make a donkey speak if He wishes.

We mustn’t be lead astray by spiritual speakers today.  If they speak any truth it’s no testimony to their wisdom, only the LORD’s who can even speak through dumb animals.  The real test is whether the speaker sees Jesus.  He is Truth and the test of it.  Let’s not be impressed by speakers.  Let’s pray that they see Jesus.  And let’s look to Him ourselves.

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Numbers 21:4-9; John 3:13-16

What is faith?

Often people consider faith to be a special quality that the religious happen to possess.  It’s like some magic elixir.  Apparently some people have lots of faith coursing through their veins, others have very little.

But how does Jesus think of faith?

When Jesus wanted to explain faith to a Bible scholar, He retold the story of the brazen serpent.  It’s an odd story, but let me give you the details:

The Israelites have been wandering through the wilderness and they’ve been doing what they do so well – grumbling:

the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. (Numbers 21:4-5)

How seriously do we consider grumbling?  As the characteristic sin of the Israelites in the wilderness, it provokes the LORD’s anger more than any other sin.  God wants our hearts, and He takes discontentment as a personal affront.  He sends judgement:

And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. (v6)

Here God’s people are handed over to diabolical powers.  Serpents remind us of that ancient serpent from Genesis 3, the devil.  The people are given over to Satan in judgement.

But judgement is not God’s final word.  Judgement is the context for the LORD to reveal His salvation:

Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.  And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.  And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived. (v7-9)

The people are saved by simply looking at the bronze serpent.  The very thing that caused them harm is their salvation if only they look.

It seems such a strange story.  Why would Jesus be so keen to draw attention to it?

Here’s what He says:

As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:  That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.  (John 3:14-15)

Numbers is our story.  We are the faithless grumblers.  We too are sick with sin, awaiting death.  There’s only one cure – behold the One lifted up.  He became the very thing that afflicted us – He became sin (2 Corinthians 5:21).  And now, what must we do to be saved?

Behold!

That’s it.  Just behold.  We are simply to “look and live” (Numbers 21:9).

Don’t ignore the snake bites.  Don’t try to reason with God.  Don’t try to suck out the poison.  Don’t offer up some sacrifice of your own devising.  Don’t turn to some voodoo spell.  Don’t ask Moses to save you.  Just look to the One lifted up.

So what is faith?

Faith is not a quality you find within yourself.  Faith is looking away from yourself.  Faith is not a thing you conjure up.  Faith is beholding something else (Someone else!).  Faith is looking to Jesus.

Many people say they would like to have faith, or they would like to have more faith.  But the answer is not to have “more faith”.  It’s to have “more Christ!”  When we behold Him, that is faith.  Therefore the life of faith, is the life of setting Christ before our eyes and saying to our souls: Behold!  Behold the Lamb of God!  Behold the Lord of Glory lifted up for you!  On the cross, He became our sin, so that we might become His righteousness.

If you want to have faith, don’t look to yourself, don’t look to Moses (through some regime of law keeping), just look to Jesus.

Why? Because,

whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  (John 3:15-16)

Numbers 14

The journey from slavery to the Promised Land should have been straightforward.  If the Israelites had kept the Mediterranean on their left they could have arrived within a fortnight.

The LORD took them a different route, through the Red Sea.  The LORD is glorified – seen for who He is – when He saves through adversity.  This was part of the reason for the Israelites’ wilderness time.

But even with the LORD’s slight detour it should have taken a matter of months to get to Canaan.  In the end, it took Israel 40 years.  Why?

Because of their mistrust.

The Israelites did not trust the report of the good spies – Joshua and Caleb bearing the firstfruits of the land.  They let fear hold sway.  They shrank back and the LORD did what He is always doing in judgement – He gave them what they wanted.  (For more examples, see this post on the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart).

The LORD confirms their decision and resolves never to let this faithless generation see the promised land:

How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me. ²⁸ Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you: ²⁹ Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me, ³⁰ Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. ³¹ But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised. ³² But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness. ³³ And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness. (Numbers 14:27-33)

This is a fearful judgement but it’s poetic justice too. If the people don’t want the promised land, they don’t get the promised land. That’s completely fair.

Not even Moses would get into the land of milk and honey.  Not even Mr Law himself could make it across the river Jordan.

Only Joshua, whose name means “Jesus”, and Caleb, whose name means “man after his heart”, would make it.  This “Jesus” figure would have to lead a new Israel into Canaan.  The old must die, only the new can enter glory, and only with “Jesus” at their head.

This preaches to us today. The law won’t get us to heaven.  All the trappings of religion and ritual will leave us short.  We must not trust in Moses.  He falls short of glory.  Therefore let all our natural abilities and efforts die.  Trust in Jesus, He leads a new Israel into rest – an Israel of faith, not of works.

While we await our true rest, we too endure a wilderness time.  In between our salvation from sin and our entrance to glory, there is testing and hardship.  The Lord does not teleport His saved people into His ‘holy habitation.’  He moves us, step by step, through wilderness years and tells us to trust in Jesus our Forerunner.  Christ has ‘entered within the veil’. That is, He has gone into God’s dwelling place as our Forerunner and Priest.  So then, as the book of Hebrews implores us, let us:

lay hold upon the hope set before us: ¹⁹ Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth… within the veil; ²⁰ Whither the Forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an High Priest for ever.  (Hebrews 6)

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Numbers 13

What will the future bring?  Blessings or curses?

Wouldn’t it be nice to send someone on ahead to make sure the future’s bright?

That’s what the Israelites do in the book of Numbers.  Let’s catch up with the story so far…

In Genesis, Israel begins as the seed of Abraham then, with Joseph, they head down to Egypt.

In Exodus they are saved out of slavery and brought to Sinai to receive the law.

In Leviticus, aspects of that law (especially the priests and sacrifices) are explained.

Now in Numbers the Israelites travel on from Sinai to the desert of Paran.  They come to the brink of the promised land – the land flowing with milk and honey.  And the LORD tells Moses to send out spies…

to spy out the land of Canaan, and Moses said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain:  And see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many;  And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in strong holds;  And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land.  (Numbers 13:17-20)

Moses sends a leader from each of the 12 tribes.  And he makes a point of renaming one of the spies. His old name was Hoshea, his new name would be Joshua, and in the fullness of time he would lead the Israelites into the promised land (Numbers 13:16). “Joshua” and “Jesus” are the same name (they are different ways of translating the one Hebrew word).

Another spy is from the kingly tribe of Judah and is called Caleb, which means “after the heart” (as in a man after the LORD’s heart).  So these 12 men head off to spy out an area of about 200 miles. It takes them 40 days.

As they spy out the land there’s good news and bad news.  Joshua and Caleb emphasize the good news, the others emphasize the bad.

Here’s the good news: the land is every bit as fruitful as the LORD had promised. They take a massive cluster of grapes back with them, carried on a pole, and also some pomegranates and figs.  These are described as the ‘firstfruits’ from the land, just as these spies were the forerunners into the land.

So the good news comes: the promised land is wonderful.  In Numbers 14:7 Caleb calls it “exceedingly good.”

But the spies bring back bad news too:

Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there…  all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.  And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.  (Numbers 13:28, 32-33)

The land is good but the inhabitants are giants.  The question for the Israelites is this: will they move forwards in faith, or shrink back in fear?

To press forward in faith they would need to look around them and be captured by the right vision:

They should look back with remembrance and see that returning to Egypt is no life for them.  It’s slavery.

They should look around with gratitude and see that the LORD is with them.  As Moses says in Numbers 14:14

thou LORD art among this people… thou LORD art seen face to face, and… thy cloud standeth over [us], and… thou goest before [us], by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night.

They should look forwards with imagination to the “exceedingly good land”.  Whatever they risk will be worth it!

They should look up with faith and see that the LORD had “sworn” to bring them in (Numbers 14:16).  He who had brought them thus far could be trusted to finish the job.

Most of all, they should look to Jesus!  This forerunner called “Joshua” was the one who would bring them into the promised land.  And he was there in their midst bearing the firstfruits of the future. He has seed the good land and he brings them a foretast. If only they would come to Joshua and listen to him, they could see, touch and even taste what was coming.  If they trusted him, the firstfruits would loom larger in their vision than the giants, and they would move forwards.

But as we’ll see tomorrow, the Israelites feared the giants more than they trusted the firstfruits.  So they turned back from the LORD’s will for them.

How about us?  In the short-term, we too face scary prospects.  Consider now what giants might be putting you off from forging ahead in God’s will.  How will we press forwards?

We too need to remember that our past in sin is nothing to return to.

Our present is a present with the Lord Jesus.

Above us is a heavenly Father who has promised to see us home (Philippians 1:6).

Ahead is an exceedingly good future.

And our Forerunner Jesus can be trusted.  He has returned from the far country and appeared among us.  His resurrection was a firstfruits of new creation life.  Let’s look to Him who has appeared among us as a pledge of the future. Then we can move forwards, trusting that the best is yet to come.

Christ is risen from the dead… the firstfruits of [those who have died]… Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.  (1 Corinthians 15:20, 58)

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Numbers 6:22-27;
2 Corinthians 13:14

Some people have only two uses for the name of God.  Either to carelessly curse, or to carelessly bless.  In either case the speaker “knows not what they do!”

In its biblical setting, “God bless” was never said lightly.  In fact it was a distinct privilege of the priests.  In particular, the High Priest, Aaron.  From him would come the divine blessing.  It’s taught so beautifully in Psalm 133.  As you read the Psalm, enter into the imagery:

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!   It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments;  As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.

The LORD commands a blessing through the High Priest, Aaron.  And that blessing is like oil poured on the head, running down to the body.

The High Priest was modelling the LORD Christ to the people.  The “brethren dwelling together” is His body.  And the oil, as throughout the Bible, represents the Spirit.  So the Father blesses the world by pouring out His Spirit onto His Son.  That blessing overflows to the people.

And so it is particularly Aaron who is commissioned to pronounce God’s blessings on the people.  Here is that famous instruction from Numbers chapter 6:

Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them, The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:  The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.  And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.  (Numbers 6:23-27)

To speak this blessing is to put God’s name onto the people.  Just as a bride takes the name of her husband, so this pronouncement from the High Priest brings the people under God’s protective care.

And, naturally enough, this one blessing (which bestows God’s one name) comes in a three-fold movement.

First: The LORD bless thee and keep thee.

Here is the fountainhead and foundation.  The word “bless” is not mentioned again in the blessing, it all comes from here.  And it is secured here.  The LORD will keep His people.

Second: The LORD make his face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee.

We have seen the “Face” of the LORD as another title for the Son of God (see here and here).  The blessing of the LORD involves revealing the radiance of God’s Face.  This is grace.  God’s merciful initiative is expressed in this: He makes His Face shine upon us.

Third: The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

“Countenance” is, simply the word “Face.”  So in this third movement we have the gracious Face not simply shining but turned upon us.  This gives us our subjective feeling of peace.

So the blessing flows out, is mediated through the shining Face, and is enjoyed and experienced as peace when that Face is turned to us.

No wonder when Paul sought to bless the church in Corinth he identified the same three-fold encounter.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.  (2 Corinthians 13: 14)

With the Father he associated the term “love”, with the Son he uses the word “grace” and with the Spirit he speaks of “communion.”

It has always been this way.  The one blessing of God comes from the loving Father, through the gracious Son and He’s communed with by the peace-giving Spirit.

Here is the very name and nature of God.  It is His true character to bless – to open out His life in His Son and Spirit and to shine upon us.

Today, may the Spirit lead you into the peace of Christ.  Or in other words, “God bless.”

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Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 22:34-46

What’s the law all about?  A supposed expert in the law asked Jesus that very question.  Jesus boiled it all down to ‘love’.  He quoted from two places in the Old Testament:

“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” (Deuteronomy 6:5)   This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like unto it,“Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” (Leviticus 19:18) On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.  (Matthew 22:37-40)

Here are six observations.

1. Jesus homes in on a part of the Bible we rarely study.  For Him the very essence of the Law and the Prophets (i.e. the whole Old Testament), is contained in Leviticus 19!  What we often skim over as irrelevant, Jesus highlights.  Let’s value every word of Scripture.

2. “Love thy neighbour” shows that we can’t play off law and love against each other.  The law is not simply about harsh externals moved by the will.  The law describes the life of love.  Its very heart is love.

When people say “Let’s not be legalistic, let’s remember to love” they commit a triple-error.  Firstly, this entreaty is itself a law!  Secondly, the law is already calling us to love.  But most crucially of all, such thinking makes us believe we’re avoiding legalism simply by talking about love.  In reality, the most legalistic preaching in the world is preaching that simply commands my affections.  Being told to work up external acts is bad enough.  Being ordered to whip up internal emotions is impossible.

The difference between the law and the good news of Jesus is not that law is about dry duty and Jesus is about heart-felt affections.  They are both about love.  It’s just that the law only describes the life of love.  The good news of Jesus, when trusted, actually produces it.

3. When the law says “Love thy neighbour as thy self” – ‘loving self’ is not the command, it’s the assumption.  God knows we love ourselves. We naturally spend vast tracts of time, money and energy on ourselves (even when we claim to be hating ourselves).  The LORD says, “Spend that time, money and energy on others.”

This law is not an excuse to spend more time focussing on me.  Very often I’ve heard Leviticus 19 as the launching pad for this grievous error: “How can I love my neighbour without first loving myself.”  And off they go, taking leave to dive into the deep, dark waters of “Lake Me.”  That is the last thing the law is urging me to do.

It’s true that we can’t love others without another love coming first.  But that initial love is not self-love, but divine: “We love because He first loved us.”  (1 John 4:19)  That is the love that must come first.  And then we love others.

As Martin Luther would say, we are to live far above ourselves in God by faith, and far beneath ourselves in our neighbour by love.  In this way we are turned outwards from ourselves.  The last thing we should do is turn in on ourselves.

“Love thy neighbour” is actually about being self-forgetful.  It’s about refusing to shut ourselves off from others.  It means extending our self-preserving impulse to those around us so that we treat them as our very selves.  I no longer treat you as an outsider because I’ve turned to you entirely.  I don’t even love you as you any more, I love you as myself!

4. Jesus was only asked to highlight the greatest commandment in the law (Matthew 22:36).  But it He can’t limit Himself to “Love God.”  “Love God” must spill over into “Love thy neighbour.”  This is because of the nature of God.  As we’ll see…

5. Once we see this summary of the law, it’s plain to see how Jesus fulfils the law.  Jesus is the One who loves God and loves His neighbour.  From all eternity that has been His life.  He has always loved His Father and His Neighbour (the Spirit).  In fact, each of the three Persons live this other-centred life.  They are completely turned out from themselves.

Since Israel is God’s son (Exodus 4:22), it’s no wonder that they are given Christ’s life to live.  The Good Life does not consist in random hoops for humanity to jump through.  The Good Life is the loving life of the Son of God.  It is described in the law, lived out in His flesh, then given to us by the Spirit.

6. Because the law is a description of Christ’s life, let’s be astonished at His love.  Leviticus 19 begins with these words:

Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy.  (Leviticus 19:2)

The holy life of Leviticus 19 is the LORD’s life.  The LORD loves us as Himself.  He is turned outwards to His beloved to spread His love.

And who could doubt this when we look to Jesus.  There He is on the cross, offering Himself utterly to the Father.  And there He is, offering Himself utterly to us.  At the cross, we have seen the love described in the law.   But more than that.  We’ve been its recipients.

To experience His love is to be released into His kind of life.  When we see Christ’s love we find ourselves loving our neighbour.  And such love, as Paul says, “is the fulfilling of the law.” (Romans 13:10)

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Leviticus 16:1-10, 20-22

We don’t like the word “scapegoat”.  It sounds like bullying.  A group picks on a weakling, identifies all its maladies with this one individual and punishes the scapegoat for the sins of the community.

That’s horrible.

But it’s horrible because of the power relationship.  The strong sacrifice the weak.

The original scapegoat was modelling something quite different.

One day a year Israel held the day of atonement.  It was a multi-media dramatisation of how the Ultimate High Priest – Christ – would get into God’s presence.  The High Priest would enter into the inner sanctum on our behalf – carrying us on his heart.  And he would do so on the basis of blood.

Here is the key blood sacrifice which opened the way:

And [the high priest] shall take the two goats, and present them before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.  And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat.   And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the LORD’S lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering.  But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.  (Leviticus 16:7-10)

One goat is treated as a scapegoat.  The other goat is treated as the LORD!  And it’s “the LORD” whose blood is shed.  What a fearful dramatisation!

These two goats will tell us of the work of the LORD Christ on the cross. On the one hand Christ is the scapegoat, taking our sins upon Himself and carrying them away.  On the other He is the LORD sacrificed in our place.  But because He is your sacrifice, therefore He can be your scapegoat.

So if you want to understand the atoning work of the cross according to the day of atonement, imagine this:

From the Most Holy Place – the inner sanctum – you hear the LORD’s own voice.  “Get out!”

The priests hitch up their robes and start running, they usher you quickly away from the altar where you were just about to sacrifice your lamb.  As you all run to a safe distance, the LORD climbs down from His throne, walks through the Holy Place and out into the courtyard.  He lays down on the altar and is slain for our sins.  As His blood runs down, you know that your sins are well and truly dealt with – removed from you as far as the east is from the west.

When the LORD takes on the role of Scapegoat it’s not the oppression of the weak.  It’s the willing sacrifice of the Strong.  The LORD Almighty has chosen to become so meek.  He stoops to identify with us on every level.

And when we identify with His sacrifice, we can know our sins to be cleansed, once and for all.

That was the experience of Charles Simeon.  He became a wonderful preacher in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.  But before this, he was wracked with guilt and weighed down by a heavy sense of sin.  Where could he find relief for his soul and forgiveness with God?  When he looked to Christ his Scapegoat he was born again!

“My distress of mind continued for about three months, and well might it have continued for years, since my sins were more in number than the hairs of my head. . . In Passion Week, as I was reading Bishop Wilson on the Lord’s Supper, I met with an expression to this effect—‘That the Jews knew what they did when they transferred their sin to the head of their offering’. The thought came into my mind, What, may I transfer all my guilt to another? Has God provided an offering for me, that I may lay my sins on His Head? Then, God willing, I will not bear them on my own soul one moment longer. Accordingly I sought to lay my sins upon the sacred head of Jesus.”

Have you laid your sins on the sacred head of Jesus?  He died to bear them.  Don’t carry them a moment longer.  Call out to Jesus and give Him your sins.  It is His glory to take them and to give you His righteousness in return.

For God hath made Jesus, who knew no sin, to be sin for us; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.   (2 Corinthians 5:21)