Concerning the priests and the Levites
in the Old Testament, the Bible says in Deuteronomy 18:5-8, For the LORD
thy God hath chosen him out of all thy tribes, to stand to minister in the name
of the LORD, him and his sons for ever.[6] And if a Levite come from any
of thy gates out of all Israel, where he sojourned, and come with all the
desire of his mind unto the place which the LORD shall choose;[7] Then
he shall minister in the name of the LORD his God, as all his brethren the
Levites do, which stand there before the LORD.[8] They shall have like
portions to eat, beside that which cometh of the sale of his patrimony.
The first important thing to notice is that God chose the priests and the
Levites to do what they were doing. It says in verse 5, For the LORD thy God hath chosen him. God has a reason for every person that He puts on this
earth. The question that every Christian should ask after they come to know
Jesus as Savior is, What does the Lord want me to do? The Lord wants some
individuals to become preachers. That is what it says in Ephesians 4:11, And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some,
evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
When God calls someone to be a
preacher, what does God want that person to do? First
He wants him or her to minister as it says in verse 5. To minister means to
serve. Being a minister of the Gospel of Christ is not a career. It is a
calling. The purpose is to serve others for the sake of their spiritual needs.
God uses people to help other people. Since man is made of body and spirit, one
of the needs of every person is the spiritual need. If you are called to be a
minister, you are not called to advance yourself or to even think of yourself,
but to think of others. What can you do to feed the flock the flock of God?
What sermon can you preach that will teach sound doctrine and that will
encourage the believers in the faith. And so it is all about them and what they
need. It is not about you, because you are called to serve.
According to verse 5, a preacher is
called of God to stand to minister in the name of the LORD. As a public
speaker, a preacher needs to make sure that he is not speaking in his own name
to advance himself or his own name. Jesus deserves the glory because of what He
did for us on the cross of Calvary. Of course, God deserves the glory because
He is God. It says in Revelation 4:11, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive
glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all
things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
When Deuteronomy 18:5 tells the
preacher to stand in the name of the Lord, it means that the preacher has the
authority of God behind him. Jesus is no longer on the earth, and so He sends
His preachers out with the Word. What is the source of the preachers strength
and confidence and authority: Jesus Christ the Almighty. A preacher does not
come in His own name. He comes in the name of the Lord.
According to Deuteronomy 18:6 the
preacher must go unto the place which the LORD shall choose. That is
because preachers get their marching orders from Jesus. Jesus calls us and
through His infinite wisdom, He decides what community we end up in. Preachers
are surrendered to Gods will. They do not do their own will, or else they
cannot do the work of God.
The Bible says in Deuteronomy 18:9-14,
When
thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not
learn to do after the abominations of those nations.[10] There shall not
be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through
the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of
times, or an enchanter, or a witch,[11] Or a charmer, or a consulter
with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.[12] For all that
do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these
abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.[13]
Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God.[14] For these nations,
which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners:
but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do.
In the days of the Old Testament the heathen people did some very extreme
things. One of the benefits of being followers of the one true God is that we
are delivered from the crazy behavior of the world around us. What the
non-Israelites were doing was crazy. They were sacrificing their own children.
They made their sons and daughters to pass
through the fire. They burnt them alive. The
children that were not burnt alive were ruined in other ways. They were
involved in false religion. It tells the Israelites at the end of verse 10 and
in verse 11, or that useth
divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,[11] Or
a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. False religion is called an abomination to God.
What would cause the Israelites to get
involved in such terrible practices? It says at the end of Deuteronomy 18:9, thou shalt
not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. Everyone is
a teacher. We teach those around us by what we do, what we say, and how we
live. Be careful what you are learning and from whom you are learning it. It is
important that Christians practice the doctrine of separation. Make sure you
are able to love the unsaved without being too close so that you are influenced
by them instead of the other way around. It says in Romans 12:2, And be not
conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
It also says in First John 2:15-17, Love
not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.[16]
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes,
and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.[17]
And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but
he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
If the Israelites must not learn from
the heathen around them, from whom should they learn? The Bible says in
Deuteronomy 18:15-19, The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the
midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;[16]
According to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy
God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the
voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I
die not.[17] And the LORD said unto me, They have well spoken that which
they have spoken.[18] I will raise them up a Prophet from among their
brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall
speak unto them all that I shall command him.[19] And it shall come to
pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my
name, I will require it of him. What Prophet is being written
about here? That prophet is Jesus. One of the thigs that a prophet does is
speak forth the Word of God. Moses did that. The law of God, the first covenant
came through Moses. But the law was weak because of the failures of man. There
needed to be another prophet and another covenant, and God promised that there
would be. It says in John 6V14, Then those men when they had seen the miracles that Jesus did said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into
the world. Jesus was That Prophet, and Jesus
brought the new covenant, which we call the New Testament. Jesus said in
Matthew 26:28, For this is my blood of the
new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
In Deuteronomy 18:16 after the
Israelites heard the law they said, Let me not hear again the voice of
the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not. Someone
might say that the Israelites should not have said that: they should have
appreciated the Word of God that they heard. But in some ways, the Israelites
were correct. The law was not enough. It could not help weak and sinful man. As
a matter of fact the law only brings more sin when we disobey it. And then the
law brings death. So many of the punishments in the Old Testament were death.
Death for doing this and death for doing that: death is everywhere related to
the law that came through Moses. Thank God that there is another Prophet who
brought mercy and forgiveness instead of punishment and death. It says in John
1:17, The law came by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
Jesus speaks to us by the Holy Spirit,
by His presence in all of our lives, and by the Word of God. Jesus gives an
invitation, and in the age in which we live, Jesus gives a free will to all to
accept or to reject His invitation to believe on Him and to follow Him. But the
day is coming when everyone will stand before Judge Jesus and give an answer to
how we each responded to His gracious and kind invitation. The warning is given
in Deuteronomy 18:19, And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken
unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. Every knee
shall bow and every tongue shall confess.
The Bible says in Deuteronomy
18:20-22, But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name,
which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of
other gods, even that prophet shall die.[21] And if thou say in thine
heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken?[22]
When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if
the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath
not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be
afraid of him. The Old Testament told us that the true Prophet would
come, who is Jesus. And the Old Testament also told us that false prophets
would come. In addition to telling us the Word of God, prophets also sometimes
tell us about future events. Since God knows everything, a true prophet who
gets his message from God will be able to reveal some future events as God
reveals them to him. That is why we have so many Old Testament prophecies about
Jesus that tell so many wonderful details about His first and second comings.
All the details about the first coming came to pass because the writers of the
Old Testament were true prophets from God. One way of knowing that someone is a
false prophet is that they will make a prediction and then that prediction does
not come to pass. We see that all the time where someone makes an outlandish
prediction for some date, but it just does not happen. Only God knows the
future. People want to know the future, but only God knows it. God has revealed
a few details about the future. Those details are in the Bible. So, if you
really want to know what is going to happen, become a student of Bible
prophecy. One of Jesus great teachings about the future is found in Matthew
chapter 24. The book of Revelation along with the book of Daniel also has a lot
of information about future events. Do not make the mistake of listening to the
wrong teachers concerning future events. Go to the Bible and let the Holy
Spirit be your teacher.
The Bible says in Deuteronomy 19:1-7,
When
the LORD thy God hath cut off the nations, whose land the LORD thy God giveth
thee, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their
cities, and in their houses;[2] Thou shalt separate three cities for
thee in the midst of thy land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess
it.[3] Thou shalt prepare thee a way, and divide the coasts of thy land,
which the LORD thy God giveth thee to inherit, into three parts, that every
slayer may flee thither.[4] And this is the case of the slayer, which
shall flee thither, that he may live: Whoso killeth
his neighbour ignorantly, whom he hated not in time
past;[5] As when a man goeth into the wood
with his neighbour to hew wood, and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and
the head slippeth from the helve, and lighteth upon his neighbour, that
he die; he shall flee unto one of those cities, and live:[6] Lest the
avenger of the blood pursue the slayer, while his heart is hot, and overtake
him, because the way is long, and slay him; whereas he was not worthy of death,
inasmuch as he hated him not in time past.[7] Wherefore I command thee,
saying, Thou shalt separate three cities for thee. Even during
the time of the harshness of the law, there was a good amount of emphasis on
mercy and the need for mercy. God required that the children of Israel had
three cities of refuge where certain people could flee and not be followed by
those who would do them harm. This teaching shows that God understands human
nature, and God tried to set up things for the Israelites so that the impulses
of their human nature would not get the best of them. Human beings can be very
vengeful creatures. Even when there is an accident, especially one where there
is loss of life, some people will want to get revenge and will want to get
even. But God wants people to learn the concept of mercy and forgiveness. We
are all human. We all make mistakes. If you cannot forgive, then you are going
to have a lot of hatred for your entire life. Of course, Jesus taught a lot
about forgiveness. The Bible says in Matthew 18:21-22, Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my
brother sin against me, and I forgive him, till seven times? Jesus saith unto
him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.
___________________________________________________
Copyright; 2015 by Charles
F. (Rick) Creech
All Rights Reserved