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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The Lord said to Moses, "Command the Israelites to send away from the camp anyone who has an infectious skin disease or a discharge of any kind, or who is ceremonially unclean because of a dead body. Send away male and female alike; send them outside the camp so they will not defile their camp, where I dwell among them."
The Israelites did this; they sent them outside the camp. They did just as the Lord had instructed Moses.
The Lord said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites: 'When a man or woman wrongs another in any way and so is unfaithful to the Lord, that person is guilty and must confess the sin he has committed. He must make full restitution for his wrong, add one fifth to it and give it all to the person he has wronged. But if that person has no close relative to whom restitution can be made for the wrong, the restitution belongs to the Lord and must be given to the priest, along with the ram with which atonement is made for him. All the sacred contributions the Israelites bring to a priest will belong to him. Each man's sacred gifts are his own, but what he gives to the priest will belong to the priest.'"
Numbers 5:1-10
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
In the first ten verses of the fifth chapter of the Book of Numbers, we find the Lord providing guidance regarding people who would be living within the respective camps of the Israelites. In this message, I’ll be touching on the first two sets of that guidance with a special emphasis placed on the second.
The scriptures show us that the first directions from the Lord in this chapter had to do with "anyone who has an infectious skin disease or a discharge of any kind, or who is ceremonially unclean because of a dead body." You may recall that this subject was addressed earlier in the Old Testament in chapter 13 of the Book of Leviticus. And although it may seem cruel that people would be separated from their camp for the reasons listed, we need to remember that there weren’t any doctors in the days of early Israel like in present times. Many of the symptoms listed in chapter five were connected to disorders that could be highly contagious so allowing afflicted people to remain in their camp would run the risk of further spreading the infections.
The second thing covered by the Lord’s directives in this passage was restitution and where the first part of the chapter dealt with afflictions that could be seen externally, this section dealt with more internal matters. As we read the Word of God, it becomes obvious that He placed a priority on making amends with others when "a man or woman wrongs another in any way and so is unfaithful to the Lord". When these wrongs were committed, there were several steps the Lord expected the guilty party to take.
First, they were to "confess the sin” that was committed.
It’s been said that anyone with an addiction can only start to take the steps toward recovery when they admit they have a problem. It’s this heart attitude, seeing oneself as being responsible for sinfulness, that's at the forefront of anyone taking the first step toward the healing found in reconciliation with the Lord. It also shows that we recognize that wrongs against others are also wrongs against God Himself who expects us to behave in ways that honor Him, ways that Jesus lived.
After confession, we read where restitution was to be made next. In the case of early Israel, the person guilty of wronging another was to fully compensate the one who was wronged plus an additional one fifth. We also see where the reimbursement might go to a close relative if the person wronged couldn’t collect and in instances where neither were in play, the set price was paid to priest as if was paid to the Lord. Additionally, the scriptures tell us that a sin sacrifice of a ram was required in order to atone for the wrong.
Now, let’s fast forward ahead to the time of Jesus.
The people of Israel were still afflicted with a sinfulness that had slowly but surely placed a divide between them and their God. The Old Testament covenant was broken and so the Lord took the initiative to do something about it in order to repair and restore His relationship with His people. Perhaps the real suitable restitution was for the people to be destroyed altogether because of their stubborn refusal to repent of their disobedience but that would never happen because God had made a covenant with His people where He promised that He would never again destroy His people as He did when the 40 days and 40 nights of rain flooded the earth and killed everyone but Noah, his family and the animals who were on the ark.
The Lord never breaks His promises and so He needed a secondary plan to create restitution for their sins and that plan was centered on the atoning sacrifice of His only Son. And so on the cross of Calvary, Jesus was crucified to pay the price we deserved for the wrongs we committed and wash any sin-stained transgressor white as snow with His shed blood the moment they placed their belief in Him.
With this, the cross became the bridge that removes the separation of God and every sinful person for all Christians. Consider this from Paul’s second letter to the Corinthian church:
"All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation." 2 Corinthians 5:18-19
Did you hear what the Word of God is saying to anyone who reads this passage?
Believers are reconciled to God by Jesus Christ and because of this truth, the Lord has commissioned every Christian to be a part of the “ministry of reconciliation”.
Did you hear that?
Through Christ Jesus, a believer is reconciled to God every moment of every day. God didn’t and still doesn’t pick and choose who He reconciles Himself to. There are no special qualifiers listed. Rather, all someone needs to do is place their faith, hope, and trust in Jesus as Savior.
With this, if God can reconcile Himself to us despite our sinful nature, then we can reconcile ourselves to each other. And if you’re having trouble bringing yourself to do this, to make amends and move on from the past, ask yourself what would happen if one day God decided to turn His back on you, not willing to reconcile.
It’s no place anyone should want to be and thankfully it hasn’t happened, nor will it.
Before I close, one final point.
For being assured as Christians that the Lord has reconciled us to Himself should bring us to a place of praise and thanksgiving not only because we find ourselves restored to His favor forever but also because of the free gift of salvation we gain through belief in Christ. In the end translation, God’s Word is truth and in John’s Gospel, we are assured that no one comes to God the Father except through Jesus, His Son (John 14:6).
Here’s one more passage to consider that reinforces and supports this:
"For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation." Romans 5:10-11
Friends, Jesus was the divine compensation that led to our reconciliation with God the Father and it was through His atoning sacrifice that all Christian believers gain the assurance of eternal life. Death loses its sting and is no longer the gate to Hell but the beginning of a wonderful forever life with the Father and the Son. Let us rejoice and be glad over all of this while continuing to answer Jesus’ Great Commission call to make disciples who can come to receive their own compensation, reconciliation, and salvation through Christ.
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.
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