Dive In The Deep End

Now stay at the entrance of the Tabernacle day and night for seven days, and do everything the LORD requires. If you fail to do this, you will die, for this is what the LORD has commanded.” [Leviticus 8.35] 

This verse very sternly warns that there is death to be avoided. In this case, the death to be avoided is in relation to the ordination ceremony. We might as well dive in the deep end...

In addition to this "you will die" admonishment, there are other warnings in today's One Year Chronological Bible reading: "you will be punished for your sin," and  "you will be cut off from the community."

Who administered these punishments?

Before we are too quick to answer, perhaps the following passage should be investigated:

If any of the meat from the peace offering is eaten on the third day, the person who presented it will not be accepted by the LORD. You will receive no credit for offering it. By then the meat will be contaminated; if you eat it, you will be punished for your sin. [Leviticus 7.18]

First, let's try to understand what "credit for offering it" meant so we might build contrast for our understanding of the punishment. That I know of, there is nothing in the Scripture that implies any hierarchy in the priesthood based on "brownie points." They simply performed their duties in their prescribed rotation with the benefits of not dying, not being punished, or not being cut off from the community in so doing. They were not rewarded with free ice cream or a trip to the Bahamas if they didn't screw up - they simply got to live, not be punished, or not be cut off from the community.

Okay, so the punishments mentioned here are resultant to failure to perform the proper protocol before God. In the case of Leviticus 7.18, eating three-day old meat will result in punishment. THINK! What does eating contaminated food do? It makes one sick! And, even though modern society refuses to accept it, the Bible definitively describes sickness (and every other type of loss) as the result of disobedience to God (Deuteronomy 28.15-68). The sickness of eating contaminated food is indeed "sickness" and here in Leviticus 7.18 we are given a clear progression of disobedience (eating three-day old meat) to punishment. The punishment is not administered by man, but is a built-in curse warned against by God.

Let's further consider the warning, "you will be cut off from the community."

“Meat that touches anything ceremonially unclean may not be eaten; it must be completely burned up. The rest of the meat may be eaten, but only by people who are ceremonially clean. If you are ceremonially unclean and you eat meat from a peace offering that was presented to the LORD, you will be cut off from the community. If you touch anything that is unclean (whether it is human defilement or an unclean animal or any other unclean, detestable thing) and then eat meat from a peace offering presented to the LORD, you will be cut off from the community.” [Leviticus 7.19-21]

Much akin to "you will be punished," the warning "you will be cut off from the community" may simply describe what takes place along with the "you will be punished" warning. Nothing separates a person from the community like chronic diarrhea and/or vomiting (commonly associated with eating contaminated food)! If a person suffering these conditions does not distance themselves from others, it is certain others will distance themselves from that person! 

Contamination is always "first suspect" in these conditions of sickness even today. Although not so today, the lines between what is "holy" and what is "unspoiled" are indistinguishable in God's eyes as seen in Leviticus. We are just "too smart" today to make that same association.

The point to be made by this article is that perhaps sickness should still be traced back to sin. With all the sicknesses and diseases that abound these days, it would sure keep people repenting, wouldn't it? But! You know what else it should do? It should cause us, from a position of repentance, to look in faith to Jesus Christ the Messiah, Who suffered all the curses defined by the Bible so we wouldn't have to (Isaiah 53.4-5; Galatians 3.13). The Bible has never been unclear on this topic, but modern science, medicine and sadly, religion have all drawn academic lines separating sickness from sin. Sickness and every other form of loss or destruction come today with scientific explanations while no deference is given (or even considered) to the Bible's clear attribution of loss and suffering to sin.

The Old Testament and the Tabernacle point us to Jesus. Should we not therefore see our sickness and loss, through the revealing lens of the Bible, as curses? And, instead of making repeated and strict sacrifices at the onset of these curses (sadly to man's idols of debt, insurance, medicine and technology), should we not simply repent and believe in Jesus? Oh yes we should, but advanced academic accomplishments stand in the way! Trusting the science is much much more popular than trusting Christ (as God and the Word) for our deliverance from curses ...including the curse of eternal separation from God. 

If we can't trust God to deliver us from temporal earthly conditions of loss due to sin, how can we ever trust God to deliver us from eternity in hell due to sin? Without Jesus, we will die, we will be punished for our sin, and we will be cut off from the community - both now and forever. This claim does not belong to this article but to God Who authored the Bible!

Father, help us to see Jesus in the Tabernacle and in every single thing described in its existence and function. May we find Truth. May we find healing and deliverance, And, may we find eternal salvation! So be it!