Leviticus
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Leviticus Chapter 24

• Leviticus 24:1 And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying, 
• 2 Command the children of Israel, that they bring unto thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamps to burn continually. 

Some believe the 7 lamps represent the Holy Spirit. We never want our light to go out or grow dim. We need to stay spiritually alive and on fire for God, never letting ourselves get stagnate, lukewarm, cold, indifferent, and our faith lacking in fervency. Constantly praying, seeking God's will and being obedient to whatever our calling is will keep our lights burning.

Without the Holy Spirit we will have a spiritually dead church. Just like the Lord did not want the lamps to go out but have a continuous supply of oil, we do not want to see the church stop depending on the Holy Spirit. That happened in the past and caused false teaching, lack of soul winning and even persecution against their own fellow Christians back in the middle ages. It can cause apostasy. We need to stay alive and be filled with God's Holy Spirit. The old timers use to call it prayed up and on fire for God.

• Leviticus 24:3 Without the veil of the testimony, in the tabernacle of the congregation, shall Aaron order it from the evening unto the morning before the LORD continually: it shall be a statute forever in your generations. 

The study of the 10 virgins on the subject of readiness should be included here.

• Matthew 25:1 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. 
• 2 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 
• 3 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: 
• 4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 
• 5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. 
• 6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. 
• 7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.
• 8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. 
• 9 But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. 
• 10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. 
• 11 Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. 
• 12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. 
• 13 Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh. 

I will add here that there are some that do not believe the oil represents the Holy Spirit at all and once we receive the Holy Spirit, we can't lose it. We do know however that it is possible to get lukewarm, weak in faith and start departing from our first love. We see this by reading the 2nd and 3rd chapter of Revelation. Everyone goes though periods of downtime and discouragement. That is why gathering together in worship and the study of God's word is important.

I do know without staying in constant prayer and the study of the word, along with godly fellowship, we are more likely to return to sin and bring reproach upon the message of the gospel.

We do need to watch and pray as Jesus warns us to do, that we do not enter into temptation.

• Leviticus 24:4 He shall order the lamps upon the pure candlestick before the LORD continually. 
• 5 And thou shalt take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes thereof: two tenth deals shall be in one cake. 
• 6 And thou shalt set them in two rows, six on a row, upon the pure table before the LORD. 
• 7 And thou shalt put pure frankincense upon each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire unto the LORD. 
• 8 Every Sabbath he shall set it in order before the LORD continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant. 

Offerings, oil, frankincense, and memorials every Sabbath was their way of remembering God and worshipping God. Now we worship God in spirit and in truth instead of having visible offerings, incense and such but we see from this a picture though, a need to gather for worship continually. This was meant as an everlasting covenant but they broke the first covenant and that gave place for a 2nd one which comes by faith in Jesus Christ the perfect sacrifice once and for all. Now even Gentile believers can worship in spirit and in truth no matter where they live. 

Notice that part of the offering was to God and the other for the priests to partake of this offering. 
Through the new and living way made available by the coming of Jesus all people who come to Christ by faith can partake of the bread by receiving the living word. This is wonderful to think about. Fellowship with God and walking in the Spirit of God was made available for every single person who will believe. All can be priests. All are called to be saints, not just those who claim to be clergy. 

Any sincere believer called of God can baptize other believers in water. Anyone can administer the Lord's supper, and such. This is not just for clergy. We are all the same in Christ. Some may be called to preach, teach and do other tasks that the Holy Spirit lays upon their hearts but all who have received Jesus Christ in truth can actually preach, teach and be used by the Holy Spirit even if they are not licensed by any government. It is the Holy Spirit that does the calling not man.  The apostles ordained some and set them over local bodies of believers but it was done by the leading of the Holy Spirit. We must never leave the Holy Spirit out of this. Good leadership guides the flock into all truth.  He doesn't lord over them or exalt himself over them. It is a calling, a responsibility not a title.

In the days of the Old Testament priesthood of the Levites; they only could do the service of the temple. The other tribes could not do so. The Levites and sons of Aaron were the only ones ordained by God for this calling. 

Through Christ who brought in an everlasting priesthood where He is the High Priest, all believers become priests when they receive Jesus as Lord. Once we turn away from sin and become new creatures in Christ Jesus we are all the same. There should be no manmade hierarchy that exalts one person above another except we do need godly leadership to keep the wolves (false teachers) from deceiving the other believers and getting weaker believers to follow them instead of Jesus. Some may even use the name of Jesus but always remember to follow Jesus and not men who desire people to follow them. Paul once said to follow him as he follows the Lord. If Paul would have stopped following the Lord and His word, they should stop following Paul.

Some of us may be called to be a leader, some of us may teach. Not all do the same things but no one is above another in Christ. Licensing is manmade. It is okay, I'm not against it but it is made by man. The Holy Spirit is the one that calls us and sets us forth into a certain ministry. People have changed this stuff so much that some require college education, degrees in theology and such before someone can preach, baptize and pastor a church. Where in the bible is any of that is ordained by God?

• Leviticus 24:9 And it shall be Aaron's and his sons'; and they shall eat it in the holy place: for it is most holy unto him of the offerings of the LORD made by fire by a perpetual statute. 
• 10 And the son of an Israeli woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel: and this son of the Israeli woman and a man of Israel strove together in the camp; 
• 11 And the Israeli woman's son blasphemed the name of the LORD, and cursed. And they brought him unto Moses: (and his mother's name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan:) 
• 2 And they put him in ward, that the mind of the LORD might be showed them. 

Notice that they diligently sought the mind of the Lord before doing anything rashly. We will see here how serious it is to break the law of God.

• Leviticus 24:13 And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying, 
• 14 Bring forth him that hath cursed without the camp; and let all that heard him lay their hands upon his head, and let all the congregation stone him. 
• 15 And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, Whosoever curseth his God shall bear his sin. 
• 16 And he that blasphemeth the name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the LORD, shall be put to death. 

God has all power to give us life or allow us to die. In Him is the power to raise the dead. He has done all that He can to save every single soul from hell but we continually go our own way and do our own things. The suffering that God allowed His holy Son to go through to buy back and redeem us from the curse of the law was tremendous. If that wasn't enough, Jesus took upon Himself our sins. When our sins went upon Jesus hanging on the cross, He then died physically. He overcame that death because He was innocent and did not deserve the curse of the law. He was cursed even though He was innocent of any sin. That means that the freedom for us who believe can be purchased since the price was paid for with His own life. 

Our sins were transferred to Him. The Old Testament sacrifices where they laid hands on the head of an animal were a picture of time when our sins could be transferred to another so that we would not have to die for our own sins. Yes, our bodies will die physically temporarily but we will be raised from that death and enjoy eternal life in the presence of God. Since the soul and spirit do not die physically the soul that is within a body that dies still in his or her sins, will have to dwell in a place where there is eternal judgment and no escape to keep sin from continuing forever. The soul that has come under the blood of Jesus believing in His power to save them from sin will be raised from the dead with a new body that will never die. 

So we see from the whole book of Leviticus how serious sin is. We can't just take it lightly and not seek a way out or we will be lost in eternity without God in a place called hell where there is no escape. This I believe is to keep sin from spreading to the human race again.

• Leviticus 24:17 And he that killeth any man shall surely be put to death. 

Capital punishment for murder was a fair and just law and still is. Even though one has done this though, he or she can get forgiven if they come to Christ for cleansing from sin. They may still suffer the penalty for murder that exists in the place where they live but they can have eternal life and be forgiven but only if they come through Jesus Christ. 

• Leviticus 24:18 And he that kills a beast shall make it good; beast for beast. 
• 19 And if a man cause a blemish in his neighbor; as he hath done, so shall it be done to him; 
• 20 Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him again. 

We see here how severe the law was and it had to be or sin would have become so bad that the whole world would have destroyed itself before the coming of Jesus Christ. 

• Leviticus 24:21 And he that kills a beast, he shall restore it: and he that kills a man, he shall be put to death. 
• 22 Ye shall have one manner of law, as well for the stranger, as for one of your own country: for I am the LORD your God. 
• 23 And Moses spoke to the children of Israel, that they should bring forth him that had cursed out of the camp, and stone him with stones. And the children of Israel did as the LORD commanded Moses. 

I know to us in today's world, this sounds severe but it shows us how serious it is to show disrespect to God who did everything possible to save us from sin and grant us eternal life reversing the curse upon us. To take that lightly and ignore it will cause us to be eternally lost. To curse a God that did all these things for us to provide for our salvation is serious. We cannot wink at sin and think we can ignore God, disrespect God and expect to not suffer any consequences.  
Everything in the law of God was given for examples. We are to read and understand the seriousness of sin so that we will read further and find God's solution to the sin problem. All answers to everything in this life and in the life to come is found in the written word of God, the bible which tells us how to be saved through faith in Jesus our Christ, the very Son of God. DC