THE MATTER OF BLASPHEMY

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

"Do not blaspheme God or curse the ruler of your people." Exodus 22:28

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In today’s highlight verse from our continued study of the twenty-second chapter of the Book of Exodus, we come upon the word "blaspheme". It’s not a word we use a whole lot today but it was common in biblical times. When we look up its meaning in the dictionary, here’s what we find:

"To speak of or address with irreverence."

Taking this a step further, looking at an extension of "blaspheme", the word “blasphemy", we learn these meanings:

"The act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence for God"

or

"The act of claiming the attributes of deity"

or

"Irreverence toward something considered sacred or inviolable".

With this, we need to seriously consider whether or not we have ever behaved in a way that showed irreverence before God?

To know for sure, we go back to the dictionary and find this definition for "irreverence":

"An act or utterance lacking proper respect or seriousness"

Taking all these word descriptions as a sum, we learn that a person commits blasphemy or blasphemes God, when they commit any act or speak any utterance that fails to show Him proper respect. Put another way, anytime someone insults God through a deed, word or thought.

If you’re like me, you’ve been convicted of this sin already.

This is why it’s important to go through these word exposition drills when we study the scriptures. For you see Christians have a bad habit of acting self righteous, easily calling out the sin of others when the truth is that they are actually no better when it comes right down to it. All have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23) and so instead of being judgmental, believers need to be repenting of their own transgressions, throwing themselves before the mercy seat of God each and every day.

When this happens, when Jesus followers are willing to humble themselves and realize their own fallen state before the presence of the Lord Almighty, then they would refrain from acting like they are at some higher spiritual plain than others and see themselves as they truly are, sinners without hope minus the cleansing, saving blood of Jesus Christ.

There’s no questioning that the Word of God is critical to our daily spiritual growth and Christian walk each and every day because it will always reveal and expose just how sinful we are, completely dependent and reliant on the only One who was able to save us through sacrificing His Son.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is what reverence toward God looks like in its purest sense and it’s incumbent on us to put it into full practice.

Now, this isn’t the only place in the scriptures where the matter of blasphemy is addressed. Consider these passages:

"Now the son of an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father went out among the Israelites, and a fight broke out in the camp between him and an Israelite. The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name with a curse; so they brought him to Moses. (His mother's name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri the Danite.) They put him in custody until the will of the Lord should be made clear to them. Then the Lord said to Moses: "Take the blasphemer outside the camp. All those who heard him are to lay their hands on his head, and the entire assembly is to stone him. Say to the Israelites: 'If anyone curses his God, he will be held responsible; anyone who blasphemes the Name of the Lord must be put to death. The entire assembly must stone him. Whether an alien or native-born, when he blasphemes the Name, he must be put to death.”

Then Moses spoke to the Israelites, and they took the blasphemer outside the camp and stoned him. The Israelites did as the Lord commanded Moses. Leviticus 24:10-23

"But anyone who sins defiantly, whether native-born or alien, blasphemes the Lord, and that person must be cut off from his people. Because he has despised the Lord's Word and broken His commands, that person must surely be cut off; his guilt remains on him." Numbers 15:30-31

You can also read Isaiah, chapter 37, or Second Kings, chapter 19, to see what happened to the Assyrian forces when their king Sennacherib decided to heap insults on God. Additionally, Ezekiel, chapter 20 gives us a full appreciation for how much God despises disrespect and irreverence. He leaves little doubt about how it displeases Him.

Finally, you may remember that the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law loved to falsely accuse Jesus of blasphemy because He claimed to be God. In fact, this was the trumped up charge that the Sanhedrin used to bring Him to Pontius Pilate while seeking His crucifixion. What has always amazed me is that these Jewish religious leaders, supposedly men of the Most High God, couldn’t even see past their arrogance to recognize that the man before them, Jesus, was their God in human form. It goes to show us how the self righteous can actually be spiritually blind.

Okay, so you get the point…or at least I hope you do.

We can’t decide to just be obedient to God on a part time status for any act that fails to bring Him honor and glory is irreverent, blasphemous, and sinful, placing the offender in a place of enmity with a God who despises any disrespect shown toward Him.

Friends, the Lord is speaking to us powerfully in this message and we all would be well advised to step back, reflect on His Word, and take account of the we’re living. We should do a stringent inventory of everything we do, say, and think, measuring each against the living standards God has firmly established, standards we find written in His Word and lived out to perfection by His Son and our Savior Jesus.

If we make a conscientious effort to do this each and every day, I am convinced that we will find ourselves moving ever closer to being like our Maker, the One who created us in His own image, and His Son Jesus, becoming like Him with our feet firmly walking the path of righteousness while carrying out our Great Commission mission to help the find their way to salvation.

In the end translation, there could be no greater act of reverence toward God, no better act of gratitude, praise and thanksgiving, and no more powerful act of love for others than doing this.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.