Mark 1:1-11  This gospel account is shorter than the others.. going "immediately" from one scene to the next as Mark gives us snapshots of "Jesus Christ, the Son of God".   May we see and know Him more as we read and study this gospel book.. 

Mark starts with a brief look at John the Baptist.  Isaiah had foretold of a "messenger" that would "prepare the way" for the Lord and John fulfilled that prophecy.  " John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins." (v4)  People came to John to be baptized, "confessing their sins".  He spoke continually of the One who was coming.. the One mightier.. the One who would "baptize.. with the Holy Spirit." (v5-8) 

The testimony of John prepares the way for the entrance of "Jesus.. (who) came from Nazareth in Galilee".  As John baptized Jesus three things happened..  the heavens opened.. the "Spirit like a dove descended upon Him, "  and the "voice came out of the heavens"...saying "Thou are My beloved Son, in Thee I am well pleased." (v9-11)  Then "immediately"  Jesus was taken by the Spirit into the wilderness where He fasted for 40 days and was "tempted by Satan".. and finally ministered to "by angels."  (v12) 

I want to read this familiar passage with a focus on knowing more about Jesus and coming to know Him more.. to look at each of Mark's "snapshots".. to allow the Spirit of God to draw me into the picture.. so to speak... 

The first "picture"  Mark gives us is of John the Baptist.  A man who wore "camel's hair" and a "leather belt around his waist".. A man who ate locusts and honey.  A man who preached repentance and told that the Messiah was coming.  John's father was Zacharias, a priest, a descendant of Aaron.  John would have also been able to serve as a priest.. but God called him for a different purpose.. to announce the coming of the Savior and to prepare his people by calling them to repent and to be baptized.. to gain forgiveness from their sins.  John was called upon to baptize Jesus and he did.. not because Jesus had any sin, but because God wanted to publicly pronounce that this was His Son, that He was given His Spirit.. and that He was well pleased! 

Father in heaven, give me eyes to see.. to see Jesus.. submitting to the baptism of John.. being filled by Your Spirit.. hearing Your voice come out of heaven.. going out into the wilderness and resisting the temptations of Satan...  Coming to bring Your kingdom.. preaching repentance.. leading me to believe! Let the Good News be proclaimed again today!  Let the eyes and ears of those who need repentance and salvation be opened up so that they might also see Jesus! Let Your Kingdom come, Father, with power and glory and blessing, in the name of Jesus. Amen. 

 Leviticus 27 brings to conclusion the terms of God's covenant with Israel.. verse 34 "These are the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses for the sons of Israel at Mount Sinai."  

This last chapter is about the price of vows.. something that is unfamiliar to us.  The first 8 verses explain a price to be paid whenever a person makes a "difficult vow".  Another translation is "singular vow"... meaning something above and beyond one's power; something wonderful or extraordinary.  Depending on age or sex.. there was a price valued accordingly.  An example of this would be a "Nazirite" vow to dedicate one's self to the Lord. ( Numbers 6:2)  Deuteronomy 23:21-23 "When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it, for it would be sin in you, and the Lord your God will surely require it of you. However if you refrain from vowing, it would not be sin in you. You shall be careful to perform what goes out from your lips, just as you have voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God, what you have promised."   Hannah made a vow to present her son to the Lord if God would give her a child... she completed that vow with Samuel.. instead of money. 

Vows made to the Lord were expensive and not to be made lightly. David proclaimed in Psalm 61:8 "So I will sing praise to Thy name forever, that I may pay my vows day by day."  In Psalm 65:1 he wrote, "There will be silence before Thee and praise in Zion, O God; and to Thee the vow will be performed." And again in Psalm 116: 14 and 18 the psalmist here writes "I shall pay my vows to the Lord".. speaking both times about calling on the Lord and giving thanks. 

A vow to the Lord could also be a promise to give the Lord an animal, a house, or a field.. beyond the offerings already required.. like the first-born of the flock.  The people were required to tithe a tenth of their land, of their crops or fruit.. this already belonged to the Lord, "it is holy to the Lord." (v30)  Beyond that they could give willingly what they were led to give. 

The Lord also gave instructions for the redemption of these gifts to the Lord. A man could redeem his house, field, or even his tithe but it would cost him the original amount plus 20%. 

Jesus spoke about vows in His sermon on the mount.. "Again you have heard that the ancients were told, 'you shall not make false vows, but shall fulfill your vows to the Lord' But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by  heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth for it is the footstool of His feet.. but let your statement be, 'Yes, yes or No, no'; and anything beyond these is of evil." ( Matthew 5:33-37)

To make a vow to the Lord and not keep it.. to make a promise to the Lord and not fulfill it was so evil in our Lord's sight that He warns us not to make any vow at all.  The Lord will hold us to our promises.. 

Father in heaven, may we be cautious in our words and in our thoughts.. may we keep every vow that we have already promised to You.. to the glory of Your Name.. by the strength given to us by Your Holy Spirit. May we be like David and give You praise and thanksgiving day by day.. and may we walk in truth as Jesus walked.  We come before You with humbled hearts, knowing that we have need of the redemption that only Christ can give, and we bow before Him to find forgiveness for every sin. Keep us walking in Your ways we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen .

 Leviticus 26:40-46  God is so gracious and kind!  He gave Israel the way of life and the consequences of rejecting His way.. but, knowing them as He did.. He also gave them hope... for is they turned away and were taken into captivity He gave them this promise..  " If they confess their iniquity.. if their uncircumcised heart becomes humbled so that they make amends.. then I will remember My covenant.. " (v40-42) 

"In spite" of their rejection of His commands.. the Lord says "I will not reject them... for I am the Lord their God". (v44)  The Lord said He would "remember for them the covenant with their ancestors.."  They had forgotten their covenant.. they had rejected His Word.. they had become abhorrent in His sight.. but if they would turn back.. if they would confess their sins.. humble their hearts.. and make amends for their iniquities.. He would not reject them.. but would bring them back to Himself. 

This is the God we serve! He is so gracious and merciful.. full of lovingkindness and forgiveness.  He has made a way for every heart to turn back..no matter how far we have gone astray.  Our great Shepherd still considers us His own.. even when we have wandered off and gotten lost.. broken.. dirty.. stuck.. He will find us and bring us home if we will just call to Him.  Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Father in heaven, thank You for not forgetting us.  Thank You for giving to us such a merciful Savior who came to seek and save the lost. Thank You that even when we forget Your promises.. You remember FOR us and that You are still the Lord our God.  We praise You today with grateful hearts. Our love for You grows deeper every time we stop striving and know that You are God.. and that You have loved us with an everlasting love. Amen and amen!

 Leviticus 26:14-39 The Lord promised so much to the nation of Israel if they would just walk in His ways.. but He knew they wouldn't..  so He spelled out for them clearly the penalties for not obeying His word, and gave them a choice. 

"But if you do not obey Me and do not carry out all these commandments, if instead you reject My statutes, and if your soul abhors My ordinances so as not to carry out all My commandments, and so break My covenant, I, in turn will do this to you: "    Then the Lord lists the horrible results of rejecting Him and His covenant. 

It would start with "Sudden terror.. consumption.. fever." 

Their enemies will steal their crops. They will strike them down. They will overtake them and rule over them. 

And...if that doesn't turn them back to their God " I will punish you seven times more for your sins.." 

He will "break down" their pride and power.  He will "make the sky like iron and your earth like bronze" They will produce no food. The trees will produce no fruit. 

Again, they would have a chance to turn back.. but if not "I will increase the plague seven times according to your sins."  The wild animals will attack them.. destroying children and cattle. 

If that doesn't change them.. "I, even I, will strike you seven times for your sins."  The sword will "execute vengeance for the covenant".  Pestilence will invade their cities. 

"Yet, if in spite of this, you do not obey Me, but act with hostility against Me, then I will act with wrathful hostility against you; and I, even I, will punish you seven times for your sins."  This would result in severe famine.  They would actually kill their children to have food to eat. Their land would become desolate.. waste would be the only thing left from their beautiful land. They would be consumed by their enemies and would "rot away because of  their iniquity". 

These judgements remind me of the final judgements that will come in the end times.  The 7 seals.. the 7 trumpets,  and the 7 bowls. ".. and they did not repent of their deeds" ( Rev.16:11) 

The Lord our God has always given people a chance to choose.. to obey or to not obey.  A choice of blessings or curses...  A choice of life.. or death.  It started in the beginning with Adam and Eve.. a choice to eat of the fruit that was forbidden.. or to obey.  Life or death.  Israel was given the same choice.. as are we... 

Father in heaven, we have chosen to follow Jesus and we will not turn back.. by the power of Your Spirit within us.. by Your grace and great mercy.. we choose Life.  We want to cling to You and rest in the hollow of Your Hand where we will never be snatched away. Keep us, Father, in Your will.. in Your Kingdom.. in Your Holy Presence. Thank You for providing a way through Jesus Christ our great Savior and King. Glory to His Holy Name! Amen. 

 Leviticus 26:1-13  If the people of Israel would keep the Lord's commandments.. having no idols, keeping the sabbath day,  reverencing the sanctuary.. and walking according to His statutes and commands.. the Lord promised to bless them.  These blessings were  more than any of them could ask or imagine.. especially these people who had just come from living in slavery and oppression all their lives.

The Lord promised to always send the "rains in their season".  They would never lack food for in every season the land would produce bountifully.  "You will thus eat your food to the full and live securely in you land." 

The Lord promised "peace in the land."   Peace... because He would protect them from wild animals and from enemies that would come against them.

The Lord promised that He would "turn toward" them and  He would make them "fruitful and multiply" them..

The Lord also promised that He would dwell with them. ".. and My soul will not reject you. I will also walk among you and be your God and you shall be My people." 

The Lord restates His relationship with Israel, "I  am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so that you should not be their slaves, and I broke the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect." 

Imagine a land that always had enough food for all its people. A land that never suffered from danger.  A land where families grew and no woman suffered from barrenness or miscarriages.  A land where God Himself walked among His people.  This is the land that God promised His people. This is the land that we long for.. like Abraham.. we are "looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God." ( Hebrews 11:10)  One day we will find this city.. "And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ' Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men and He shall dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be among them." ( Rev.21:3) 

Father in heaven, You are the Lord our God and we eagerly await that day when we will be with You in that beautiful city where there will be no more tears, no more sorrow, and no more death.  Sin will be no more and we will be free from the things of this world forever. We will worship You and rejoice in Your Presence forever and ever!  Oh what a day that will be!  Father, help us to walk in this living hope and in the righteousness that is ours in Christ Jesus our Lord, to the glory of Your Name. Amen. 

 Leviticus 25 introduces the Sabbath year and the year of Jubilee.  After the people of Israel would enter the land that the Lord would give them, they were commanded to keep a "sabbath unto the Lord" every 7 years.. not planting their crops or pruning their vineyards.  God would provide 3 years worth of food during the 6th year so that they would have enough for the 7th and 8th year when they would plant again.  He promised that they would have enough to feed themselves, any servants, and even the cattle or other animals that they kept. 

And.. to add to that every 50th year they would celebrate a year of Jubilee. The 49th year and the 50th year would be set apart.. and they would not plant for those 2 years.. trusting the Lord to provide enough. "For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You shall eat its crops out of the field."  This celebration would start with the sound of trumpets on the day of atonement.  

Not only was the year of jubilee a year to give rest to the land.. but it was a year of liberty.  During this year any land that had been sold would have to be returned to the man and his family who sold it. The number of years until the next jubilee year determined the amount that someone would pay for the land.   The Lord said, "The land, moreover, shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are but aliens and sojourners with Me." ( v23)

Also, any person who sold himself because of his poverty would have to be set free on the first day of the jubilee. The Lord desired His people to help each other. "Now in case a countryman of yours becomes poor and his means with regard to you falter, then you are to sustain him, like a stranger or a sojourner , that he may live with you." (v35)  They were forbidden to charge "usurious interest... but fear they God; that thy brother may live with thee." (v36)

The Lord taught His people the need for redemption. If a fellow Israelite became so poor and sold himself to a foreigner then they should make arrangements to buy them back.. pay the redemption price that corresponds to the number of years to the next jubilee. 

It is Jeremiah who reveals how much the Lord valued the keeping of these sabbath years and the Year of Jubilee.  In Jeremiah 25:10-11 he prophesied, " Moreover I will take from them the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstone and the light of the lamp. And this whole land shall be a desolation and a horror, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years."  Israel had failed to observe the sabbath year (7th year) 10 times.. 70 years..  Jeremiah 29:10 "For thus says the Lord, when seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. " 

Jeremiah also recorded the covenant that God made with King Zedekiah and the people in Jerusalem.. to set free the Hebrew men and women who had been kept in bondage by their own people. (Chapter 34). The people first obeyed this law.. but then took it back.. ".. you turned and profaned My name and each man took back his male servant and .. his female servant, whom you had set free according to their desire, and you brought them into subjection.. " (v16)  Because of this the Lord said, "You have not obeyed Me in proclaiming release each man to his neighbor. Behold, I am proclaiming a release to you... to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you a terror to all the kingdoms of the earth." (v17)

I don't know if Israel ever kept the sabbath years or the years of Jubilee.. or if they do now.  But, I know this.. Jesus proclaimed, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He  anointed  Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord." ( Luke 4:18-19) 

This is the reason we can celebrate .. sound the trumpets.. rejoice in God's provision of a Wonderful Savior who came to release us from captivity and bring us home..to where He is.. forever and ever! Amen. 

 Leviticus 24:1-9  The Lord instructed Moses to command the people to bring pure olive oil to Aaron who would use it in the tent of meeting every day. ."from evening until morning".  He was also told to bring 12(large) cakes of bread to place on the gold table each sabbath day.  This bread would be "most holy" and could be eaten only by Aaron and his sons as it was replaced each week. Frankincense was also added to the table as a memorial offering to the Lord.  This bread would be known as the "bread of the Presence" .  Light and Bread.. "a perpetual statute".. these would stand "before the Lord continually."  Aaron was instructed to keep both of these "in order" before the Lord.  

Jesus said, "I am the light of the world. If you follow Me, you won't have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life." (John 8:12)  He also said, "I am the Bread of life. whoever comes to Me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in Me will never be thirsty." ( John 6:35)  

The pure light was supposed to be kept in order "continually".. and we have been given the "Light of the world" . .Jesus Christ.. to be with us continually so that we might walk in the Light and not in darkness.  The bread of the Presence.. points to the One who gives us life so that we will live in His Presence continually and eternally.   Hallelujah! What a Savior! As the Bread of the Presence was renewed every Sabbath.. we are renewed when we come together each week to worship Him in our own churches! 

Verses 10-23 of this chapter are an interruption in the middle of the instructions regarding the laws and statutes of the Lord.  

A man whose mother was an Israelite and whose father was Egyptian got into a fight with an Israelite man. This man "blasphemed the Name and cursed."  He was taken into custody and brought before Moses.  The Lord gave Moses instructions to have the man taken outside the camp,  those who witnessed this man's words put their hands on his head, and then the whole congregation was ordered to take stones and kill this man for his sin.  The Lord said,  " If anyone curses his God, then he shall bear his sin." (v15) 

The Lord also added more instructions for dealing with disputes and struggles between people:

Someone who takes a life would be put to death. 

Someone who killed an animal had to replace that animal.

Someone who injured another person would be inflicted with the same injury that he caused. "fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; just as he has injured a man, so it shall be inflicted on him." (v19) 

God's justice is perfect. Sometimes it is severe, but it is still perfect.  Jesus spoke of this judgement in Matthew 5:38 during His great sermon.  He said, "you have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, do not resist him who is evil; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also."  The Bible Knowledge Commentary says that the Law given in the Old Testament was called the "law of retaliation" and meant to protect the innocent and make sure that the retaliation was not greater than the offense. What Jesus pointed out was that the righteous man did not need to claim his right to retaliate.. but to be humble and selfless.. allowing God to judge and "set all things in order" Himself. As Romans 12:19 states, "Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, 'Vengeance is Mine, I will repay" says the Lord." 

Father in heaven,  may our thoughts be renewed.. our minds transformed by Your Word.  May our lives be illuminated continually by the Presence of Christ Jesus who abides in us and we in Him.  May we partake of the true Bread of Life and be continually renewed by His life in us.  May we live in humble and selfless surrender to Your perfect will.  We give it all over to You.. for You are the God who is perfectly holy and perfectly just. We look for Your Kingdom to come and Your will to be done as we honor Your Name. Let the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to You we pray, in Jesus' name Amen.