𝗦𝗵𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗶/ “𝘌𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘩”

𝗟𝗲𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝟵:𝟭–𝟭𝟭:𝟰𝟳

In this week's portion we begin to see the separation of holy and profane, clean and unclean. We see Aaron and his sons take their place as priests as the LORD comes to fill the Tabernacle. We receive commands related to what is considered food for us, which surprisingly models what can be sacrificed on the LORDs altar. Coincidence? I think not.

But I want to narrow in on a point I have briefly touched on before. It is the death of 𝗡𝗮𝗱𝗮𝘃 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝘃𝗶𝗵𝘂, two sons of Aaron who offered "𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙂𝙤𝙙, 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙝 𝙃𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙣𝙤𝙩". And because of this the LORD sent fire out and consumed them. They had 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘥 what was marked as holy. The LORD had an order of service, and they broke it, simply by believing their offering was 𝘴𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵 as it was. They were wrong.

Over the last few weeks, the LORD has really been impressing on me this return to the 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗲 fear of Him. He has made it clear that mixture is not allowed on His altar, and if we are His temple, that means us. Friends, I am telling you - not all worship is worship to Him! Coming out of the week of unleavened bread I couldn't help but recognize the temptation to 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘦 just a little. I mean, if there happened to be a little yeast used in the process of making my ketchup, what would it really hurt? It wasn't even listed on the label as an ingredient, so it had to be a truly 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵 amount, right?!?!? And then I had to ask myself, is that how I look at the sin in my life, too? Ouch.

The LORD began to probe deeper into my heart as He revealed to me where I may have been lacking in my fear of Him. And then He continued to drop me in passages of Scripture confirming what I was hearing. I find it very interesting that Paul uses these words within the Book of Hebrews. Its found in Chapter 12 vs 4, "𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘆𝗲𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗱𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝗶𝗻". Kinda hard to miss the significance of those words as we just finished Passover, isn't it?

He brought me back to some of the questions I have had over the last few years, namely, "what did His disciples know that I don't know, which enabled them to face death without compromising His Word, with such boldness?" And the simplicity of the answer seems anything but simple, "𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘄𝗮𝗹𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗢𝗥𝗗". We see Peter as a perfect example of this. Perhaps on the way to the Cross He was unsure if Yeshua 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗹𝘆 was the Promised Messiah. But after the resurrection, when his eyes and heart were opened, he was convinced Yeshua was the Son of God. His fear of the LORD emboldened him from that point on.

It's funny because even as this weeks portion contains passages related to food, another story popped in my sights this week. The story of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They were brought to the king's palace and had their choice of the finest foods, yet they declined and asked to be fed only vegetables and water. And let's not forget the fiery furnace in which they declined to worship a golden statue, even in the face of death, all because they truly 𝘄𝗮𝗹𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗢𝗥𝗗. They came out of the fire unharmed while the sons of Aaron were destroyed by it!

We have dwindled down the fear of the LORD to just standing in awe of Him, which is absolutely part of it! But it isn't the whole of it. Do we truly fear the LORD - and what the final judgement of sin will be like? Do we not yet understand the significance of His commands and the offering of our perfect and spotless Lamb, Yeshua, to move us from death to life? Psalm 119:120 says, "𝙈𝙮 𝙛𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙝 𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙛𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝙔𝙤𝙪, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙄 𝙖𝙢 𝙖𝙛𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙟𝙪𝙙𝙜𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨." and just a few verses later in 124 the Psalmist says, "𝘿𝙚𝙖𝙡 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙖𝙘𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝 𝙢𝙚 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙩𝙚𝙨."

You see, it is because He loves us and because of the the covenant He has made that He teaches us His Torah, His commandments, that we may not sin against Him. It isn't a burden - it is true freedom!! Hallelu-YAH!!

And I will finish with these last few verses from this same Psalm. My heart beckons for the true fear of the LORD to return to us - we must stop seeking a move of the spirit and begin to seek a move of our hearts - a turning in repentance back to His truths. True worshippers will do so in Spirit and in Truth. His Word is Truth. Amen!

𝘗𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘮 119:114-119
𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘥;
𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥.
𝘋𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘮𝘦, 𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘳𝘴,
𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘰𝘣𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘎𝘰𝘥.
𝘚𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦;
𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦.
𝘜𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦,
𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘴
𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘴,
𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘵𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴.
𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴;
𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘴.