Drink No Wine – Leviticus 10 – 2025 Day 145

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Read through the Bible: Psalm 115; Leviticus 10

This chapter begins with the death of Aaron’s two oldest sons who foolishly burn “unauthorized” incense to the Lord. Then the Lord tells Aaron,

“Drink no wine or strong drink,
you or your sons with you,
when you go into the tent of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations.”

Leviticus 10:9 ESV

Do you think there’s a connection between alcohol and Aaron’s sons making this foolish choice? I’m not certain, but it sure seems like a reasonable guess.

When I was preparing to teach a study on 1 Timothy 3, I read Chuck Smith’s commentary on 1 Timothy 3:8, “Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine…” Read this very interesting, and timely, excerpt:

“We have a very interesting case in the Old Testament when God commanded Moses to build the tabernacle and He gave him specific instructions as to the materials and the dimensions and the sizes, the whole thing. He gave him his careful instructions in building. Once they had built the tabernacle, had set it up, had set up the altar and the whole framework for the sacrifices, the time came to inaugurate now the temple or the tabernacle worship of God. And so the altar was built, the sacrifice was placed upon it and fire came from heaven and sort of lit the fire of the altar. A supernatural manifestation of God. The presence of God came down, the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. The priest, because of the glory of the Lord, sort of swooned, they weren’t able to stand up.

And in the midst of this moving of God among the people, a couple of Aaron’s sons got excited. And they had little bowls with incense that they were to offer before the Lord and they went in to offer this incense in the excitement of the moment and the fire came from the altar of God and consumed them. And later, God commanded Moses to speak unto Aaron that when they were doing the service to God, they weren’t to drink wine. Made very specific commandments. The intimation is that the two sons of Aaron perhaps had been drinking a little wine and had lost their sense of good judgment. And that is why they were consumed by the fire of God when they sought to offer strange fire before the Lord.”

Chuck Smith – Commentary on 1 Timothy 3-4

And what about Ephesians 5:15-18 ESV? “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,”

I’ll close today’s lesson with Chuck Smith’s prayer from his 1 Timothy 3-4 lesson –

Father, as Your Holy Spirit has again tonight caused us to look in the mirror, to see the truth, to face the reality of what we are, help us, Lord, not to be so foolish as to just go away and forget what we saw. But Lord, I pray tonight that there might be within our heart that renewed commitment to the things of the Lord. Things of the Spirit. Lord, we know that we are in the last days. Many have departed from the faith. Have been caught up with these seducing spirits, following after the flesh, turning away from the things of God. Being drawn into the things of the world. God, help us in these days to be like You. God, give to us a renewed experience in the Spirit that we might walk in the Spirit and live in the Spirit and be led of the Spirit. A new sense, Lord, of spiritual values. The examination of our priorities, our energies going into those things that are going to fail and those things that are going to crumble and those things that are going to be reduced to ashes while we neglect the eternal. Physically fit but spiritually bankrupt. God, may that not be our case. Renew our hearts in the things of the Spirit, our walk and life with Thee. In Jesus’ name, Father, Amen.

One Pure & Holy Passion Passion – Amy Nobles

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The Only Sinless Priest – Leviticus 9 – 2025 Day 144

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Read through the Bible in 2 years: Psalm 114; Leviticus 9

“So Aaron drew near to the altar and killed the calf of the sin offering, which was for himself.”

Leviticus 9:8 ESV

Just think – even Aaron, the man chosen by God to be the first high priest, must make an offering for himself. Even he, himself, has sin which must be atoned for. And so do you and I. But Jesus …

“He has no need, like those high priests,
to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins
and then for those of the people, since he did this
once for all when he offered up himself.”

Hebrews 7:27 ESV

Heavenly Father, Thank You for sending Jesus Christ, the only high priest without sin, the only God-man, Your only begotten Son, to come to earth and to die a sinner’s death in my place. He is the only worthy one. His death and resurrection have freed me from my slavery to sin and the penalty of sin: death. Thank You. Thank You. Thank You. I am forever grateful for Your sacrifice. In the Name of Jesus Christ, my Savior and Lord. Amen.

“Is He Worthy?” by Andrew Peterson – Performed by Highrock Church

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Unity in the Body of Christ – Leviticus 8 – 2025 Day 143

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Read through the Bible in 2 years: Psalm 113; Leviticus 8

At the consecration of Aaron and his sons, the Lord tells Moses to assemble all the congregation at the entrance of the tent of meeting, so they can witness this blessed event. Moses washes Aaron and his sons with water and dresses them in their sacred robes and ephods and turbans. Moses pours anointing oil onto their heads as well as on the tabernacle and the altar and its utensils.

And he poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron’s head
and anointed him to consecrate him.

Leviticus 8:12 ESV

This passage reminded of Psalm 133:1-3, “Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes! It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the LORD has commanded the blessing, life forevermore.”

Are you an active, participating, contributing member of a local Bible-preaching, Bible-believing congregation? Friends, you need them, and they need you.

Is there someone in Christ’s body that you are at odds with? Someone you need to forgive? Someone who has something against you? Christ has charged His children to be ministers of reconciliation and ambassadors for His kingdom. Let it start with you.

Dear Heavenly Father, what a beautiful gift it is to dwell in unity with my brothers and sisters in Christ. It’s not easy, but it’s good. I pray for pure and heartfelt unity within my local body of believers as well as across the global body of Your church. I pray that our unity would be rooted in Your truth and righteousness and bear great fruit for Your glory. Make us Your priests, anointing and washing others in the water of the Word and the gospel of Jesus Christ. Help us to be quick to repent and quick to forgive. By the grace of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.

There is One Gospel by City Alight

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Keeping the Fire Burning – Leviticus 6-7 – 2025 Day 142

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Read through the Bible in 2 years: Psalm 112, Leviticus 6-7

“The fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it;
it shall not go out. The priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and he shall arrange the burnt offering on it and shall burn on it the fat of the peace offerings.
Fire shall be kept burning on the altar continually;
it shall not go out.”

Leviticus 6:12-13

The Lord is faithful. Day after day. Night after night. Morning after morning. He pours out His blessings upon me. He fills my lungs with breath. He causes the earth to continue to spin and the birds to continue to sing. Where would I be without Him?

I need Him every hour. In the highs and lows, on the mountain tops and in the valleys, in the darkness of nights and on the brightest of mornings, His praise will ever be on my lips.

He is faithful, and I want to be faithful, too.

Pray with me.

Heavenly Father, Let not let the embers of my love and faith grow cold in my heart. Fan those embers into roaring fires. Help me to abide in You and to hunger for Your Word to abide in me. Let me not forget that I need You every hour and every day. Remind me of the love I had at first – the passion and hunger and deep gratitude that I felt when I first met my Savior. Make me a bright and shining lantern, pointing the world to You. In the Name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen.

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Sins of Ignorance – Leviticus 4-5 – 2025 Day 141

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Read through the Bible in 2 years: Psalm 141; Leviticus 4-5

The Lord here provides specific directions for how to atone for unintentional sins, sins of ignorance. This reminded me of so many other passages, like Paul’s beautiful testimony from 1 Timothy 1:12-16,

“I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.”

Listen to Jesus’s words when He was being crucified,

“Father, forgive them,
for they know not what they do.”

Luke 23:34

But what about when you continue willfully in sin? Or what about those who have heard the gospel again and again and yet they choose to turn their back on God?

“For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.

Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?

For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

Hebrews 10:26-31

Let’s stop questioning what God will do with those who have never heard the gospel, and instead ask ourselves, “Am I prepared to meet God? Am I in willful disobedience to the Word of God? Am I being faithful to share the good news and make disciples where God has placed me?”

Will you join me in prayer?

Heavenly Father, I, for one, am not ignorant. I once was lost, but now I’m found. Even when I was darkness, running away from You, You had written Your law on my heart. I knew that it was wrong to lie. I knew that it was wrong to say hateful things about other people. I knew that it was wrong to slander and gossip. I knew it, but I did it anyway. Thank You for saving me while I was yet a sinner. Thank You for sending Jesus to die in my place, to be the sacrificial lamb who died outside the camp, who bore my sin and shame.

Now let me take this knowledge and share it with others, so that they will not meet You in ignorance. I pray also for those who have heard the truth and have willfully rejected it, who are intentionally running away from You today. Please, Lord, save them! Draw them to Yourself. Send Your Word, Your angels, and Your children into their path. May Your courts be filled with people from every tribe and tongue from around the globe. In the Name of Jesus Christ, the only Name that saves, Amen.

In the Light – Shane and Shane

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The Priest and the Offering – Leviticus 1-3 – 2025 Day 140

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Read through the Bible in 2 years: Psalm 110, Leviticus 1-3

In these chapters, I see again and again the role of the priest in all of these detailed offerings. No one could make these offerings themselves. They had to go to the priest who would sacrifice the animal and throw its blood on the altar and burn it. They couldn’t do it themselves. A priest was required.

Some churches have taken this to mean that people must now continue going to a priest, that they cannot go directly to God, but that is in absolute contradiction to the Scriptures.

For there is one God
and there is one mediator
between god and man,
the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

1 Timothy 2:5-6

Jesus Christ Himself is our great and perfect priest. He is both the priest and the offering. We can – and we must – go directly to Him and through Him if we want to reach the Father.

Heavenly Father, Thank You for sending Jesus to earth to be our perfect High Priest, our Mediator, our spotless Lamb without blemish. May we confess our sins directly to Him, the only priest able to forgive us completely. Use us to share this good news with the world. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.

What an Awesome God –
Phil Wickham, Michael W. Smith

Perfect timing – Exodus 40 – 2025 Day 139

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Read through the Bible in 2 years: Psalm 109; Exodus 40

“On the first day of the first month
you shall erect the tabernacle
of the tent of meeting.”

Exodus 40:2 ESV

One year earlier, God had established a new calendar for the Israelites, establishing the month of their Exodus to mark the first month of every year. Every year as they shout HAPPY NEW YEAR, they will remember when God delivered them out of their slavery in Egypt.

One year later, on the first day of the first month, the Israelites are now commanded to erect the tabernacle.

Coincidence? Not at all. God is a God of intentional timing. God has a plan and purpose in His foreordained timing. He is a “that very day” God. You can trust Him in the waiting.

Heavenly Father, Today as my baby boy graduates from high school, and I hang up my homeschooling mama hat, I thank you for every day that I had to train up my children in the way that they should go. I lift up all the mamas with empty nests they’re aching to fill, I lift up all the mamas who are in the thick of their mothering journeys and desperately need Your strength, and I lift up all the mamas whose children have already flown the coop. Show us, Lord, that Your timing is always right, and that You are never late. Help us to trust that You are always right on time. Always. We are the ones whose timing is wrong. Not You. Please grow our faith as we wait upon You. We want to follow Your lead. Help us to rejoice with hope, to be patient in affliction, and to be faithful in prayer, believing that we will rise up with wings like eagles, running without growing weary and walking without growing faint, as we wait for You to take the lead. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen

I Will Wait for You (Psalm 130) – Keith and Kristyn Getty

Well done, Good and Faithful Servant – Exodus 38-39 – 2025 Day 138

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Read through the Bible in 2 years: Psalm 108; Exodus 38-39

“According to all that the LORD had commanded Moses,
so the people of Israel had done all the work.
And Moses saw all the work, and behold, they had done it;
as the LORD had commanded, so had they done it.
Then Moses blessed them.”

Exodus 39:42-43 ESV

The people had painstakingly carried out all the details of what the Lord had commanded through His servant, Moses, and when Moses saw their good work, he blessed them.

This reminds me of the parable of the talents that we read last month in Matthew 25. Both servants who invested well their talents – whether they had received two or five – were praised by their master with the very same words.

‘Well done, good and faithful servant.
You have been faithful over a little;
I will set you over much.
Enter into the joy of your master.’

Matthew 25:23 ESV

Heavenly Father, help us to serve You with a cheerful, willing, eager heart. Strengthen us to give back to You out of the abundance that You have lavished on us. Help us, also, to be encouragers, to speak honest words of praise and blessing to those we meet – our husband, our children, the cashier at the grocery store. Make us quick to give honor where honor is due. May we fix our eyes, hearts, and minds, on things that are above, looking forward to the day when we will see you face to face. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.

Well Done – The Afters

A Single Whole: The Tabernacle Meets New Jerusalem – Exodus 36-37 – 2025 Day 137

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Read Through the Bible in 2 years: Psalm 107; Exodus 36 – 37

  • Why did God lead Moses to list all these details in His Holy, inspired Word?
  • Why do we need to know all about the curtains and the rods and the clasps and the ark and the table for the bread and the table for the incense?
  • Why do we need all these details about the lampstands and the altar and the basin?

Well, here’s one thing that was made more clear for me by the incredible amount of detail Moses shared:

He made fifty loops on the one curtain, and he made fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that was in the second set. The loops were opposite one another. And he made fifty clasps of gold, and coupled the curtains one to the other with clasps. So the tabernacle was a single whole.

Exodus 36:12-13 ESV

The tabernacle was made of all these various things, things that were donated and constructed by various people, yet the tabernacle was a single whole. God wanted all these golden clasps, wooden frames, silver bases, and blue and purple curtains to fit together perfectly to make the tabernacle a single whole. Unique and United again.

There is one God, and there is no other. The perfect unity of Father-Son-Holy Spirit, one God eternally exists in three persons.

And, what about the bride of Christ, the wife of the Lamb, the church?

“Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.”

And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed– on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb….

The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.

And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day–and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”

Revelation 21:9-14, 19-27 ESV

Christ only has one bride, but this one bride is made up of thousands upon thousands of individual, unique souls who have been coupled together by God’s Holy Spirit and washed in the blood of the One Lamb Jesus Christ.

The tabernacle was a single whole, made of many parts,
and so is the body of Christ.

Are you a member of that very special body? If not, what is holding you back? If so, how then shall you live? What does being a member of the body of Christ mean to you in your daily life?

Heavenly Father, Thank You for making me Your bride, for inviting me into this holy union between You, Holy Almighty God, and Your bride. Thank You for the beauty that is found in communing with You. It is a precious, priceless gift of infinite worth. I pray that I would be eager to contribute to the building of this sanctuary – to spend my time, talents, treasures, and testimony for the building up of this body, Your bride. In the Name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen.

Hymn of Heaven – Phil Wickham

Everyone Whose Heart Stirs Them – Exodus 35 – 2025 Day 136

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Read through the Bible in Two Years: Psalm 106, Exodus 35

“All the men and women, the people of Israel, whose heart moved them to bring anything for the work that the LORD had commanded by Moses to be done brought it as a freewill offering to the LORD.”

Exodus 35:29 ESV

God had called Bezalel and Oholiab by name, giving them special skills and abilities to craft the beautiful tabernacle for the worship of the Lord, yet God also had a purpose for the entire congregation. Every man and every woman in the whole nation, everyone whose heart stirred them, everyone whose spirit moved them, were invited to contribute to the creation of the tabernacle.

Do you have some blue, purple, or scarlet yarn? How about some rams’ skins or goats’ skins, goats’ hair or fine linen? God needs you.

Do you have anything made of bronze, silver, or gold? How about some stones, spices, or oils? God needs you.

They didn’t have to have
any particular skills.
They just needed to have
willing hearts.

What do you have to offer Him? A house? A job? An education? A child? A marriage? These are all gifts from Him, and He can use them all. Are you willing?

Heavenly Father, every hour of every day is a gift from You. My life is a gift, but so is my stuff. Every piece of furniture, every article of clothing. Every room in my house. Every child around my table. My husband sitting next to me. I offer them back to You. Take my life and let it be, consecrated, Lord, to Thee. Stir my heart. Move my spirit. For Your glory and praise. Amen.

My Worth is Not in What I Own –
Keith and Kristyn Getty
Take my Life and Let it Be – Norton Hall