2005-09-09
Good Morning Cherished Readers,
No matter how unfriendly our world around us becomes, we can rest in the knowledge that as long as we endure in our faith, our awesome God really does cherish each of us. It is through His Son and the Holy Spirit that we are given salvation, justification, and the Counselor we need to work through all the challenges to our faith we encounter. Moreover, we are given the power and authority to battle the evil one to victory in Christ's holy name. Today, I am led to continue discussing the actual consistency between the statement, "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" found in EX 21: 24; LV 24: 20; DT 19: 21, and Christ's directive of "turn the other cheek" found in MT 5: 39.
As early as some of the Torah readings of God's word, we can see that circumstances enter into God's judgments. We saw in EX 21:1, 12-13 where Moses begins the Book of the Covenant, that different actions are required in response to premeditated murders than accidental ones. That same consideration for premeditation or the lack of it is implied in LV 24: 20, which deals with breaking of another's bones, and DT 19: 21,which deals with bearing false accusations. DT 19: 1-13 contains specific instructions about the establishment and rules for cities of refuge. These are God-designated cities in Israel to which a person guilty of involuntary manslaughter can go with protection from the wronged family's kinsman-redeemer. (The latter is a person designated to take action against the wrongdoer).
While these regulations set up by God were reasonable in His eyes, mankind has done a lot over the years to altar how they are carried out. I'm not just referring to the disappearance of cities of refuge, but to how the entire legal system as evolved over the years. At this point in time, I will offer my own opinion that so much leniency in the application of criminal law in the guise of making sure that the perpetrator's rights are protected, that many victim's are now seeing their rights trampled. I say this because of all the rape kits that lay on warehouse shelves untested and uninvestigated, because of lack of funding. Think of all the cases that could be solved with existing evidence in the hands of the authorities. I say this because of the "revolving doors" of prisons in which perpetrators guilty of heinous crimes are released early because of "time off for good behavior" or plea bargaining. I say this because of the length of rap sheets for certain recidivists and the percentage of recidivism in today's prison population. I say this because of frustrated local police and bail bondsmen who put their lives on the line to arrest perpetrators and build worthy cases against them, only to find that they are out on the streets within a few months again. In other countries when a person is found guilty and sentenced in court, he must serve his entire sentence, which acts as a deterrent to repeating the offense.
Most of the time when blood is mentioned in the sacred sense in the Bible, those brought up in Christianity will first think of the blood our Lord and Savior shed for us on the cross-that cleansing blood which washes over us when we repent and come to faith in Him. But blood has been in important issue to God from the time of the earliest chapter of the Torah. Remember GN 3: 21, which God clothes Adam and Eve in animal skins before casting them out of the Garden of Eden? The shedding of blood had to happen for that, certainly pointing forward to the fact that sinning mankind would eventually find salvation with faith in Christ. LV 17: 11 comes straight out with God's heart-attitude. "The life of every living thing is in the blood, and that is why the Lord has commanded that all blood be poured out on the altar to take away the people sins. Blood, which is life, takes away sins." God states in DT 19: 11-13 that the death penalty for a person committing premeditated murder is acceptable, because Israel must be purged of people so evil as to do this. In DT 19: 15, God inspires Moses to say there must be at least two witnesses necessary for a conviction.
God set up all these rules and regulations as a way of ridding the land of evil. So, it's apparent that finding a way to save mankind and purifying the land was very much on God's mind right from the beginning. I don't doubt for one minute that mankind's sin and the adversary's evil actions have been a knotty problem for God from the time of their inception. No doubt, they have brought our loving God a lot of pain and disappointment over time. When dealing with the laws of God, they must be obeyed both to the letter and the Spirit. Truthfully, I'm not alone among believers alarmed by the efforts in our own country to eliminate all mention of God or His Law from the institutions of our society. God's motivation has never been anything but the love of His creation, and people wanting to eliminate mention of Him are showing Him their contempt. The lawyers that are greedy are the only ones cashing out on the habits of a litigious society. Swift settlement of court cases is becoming a thing of the past, causing much pain and a lot of money to those involved. In the end, God's will shall win out. I have to believe this, because He alone has the final power to decide the eternal fate of those who do Him so much wrong.
PRAYER: O Lord, You allow a measured amount of evil to happen, designed to provide opportunities to sort out those who will endure in their faith and those who will reject You. We find ourselves in a difficult state of affairs with regard to our system of justice and its adherence or lack thereof to Your idea of justice. We must not lose sight of the fact that Christ came to fulfill the law, to put the law to an end so that everyone who believes is put right with You [RO 10: 4]. That leads us, Dearest Abba, to the inescapable conclusion that faith in Christ and willingness to have a relationship with You that is real and personal is the only viable choice we can make. It is the only road that leads to eternal life and gives us escape from spiritual death. The path You give us to follow is full of ruts, muddy places, and other challenges. However, you have given each of us the power to overcome these challenges and stay the course. That is Your greatest expression of love, because it could only be accomplished through the suffering and death of Your only Son on the cross, His resurrection [with the promise of our own some day-RO 8: 29], and the gift You give us of Your Spirit to indwell in us [JN 3: 16; RO 3: 24-25; JN 14: 16-18]. For what more could Your creation ask? Your Son wasn't sent to earth to contradict all the teaching You had sent to us through the OT prophets, but instead, to remain consistent with it. Such is the case with everything He does and says. There are five basic truths which I gleaned from a recent course I took that bear repeating here. 1) You are Who you say you are. 2) You can do what You say you can do. 3) We are who you say we are. 4) We can do all things through Christ Who strengthens us [PHIL 4: 13]. 5) Your word is alive and active in us. We stand before Your throne, imperfect sinners though we be, and pledge our undying worship, praise and thanks for all that You are and all that You do. We dedicate ourselves to following Your teaching to its letter and Spirit. We offer You our love and devotion. In Christ's name, we pray. Amen.
Next week, I'm led to begin a new segment called "God's Law Based on Love." We can look first at the benefits to society of following God's law. Each week that I write these messages, the overarching truth of God's remarkable love for His creation becomes more deeply etched on my mind. As we see it unfold in its many contexts, how can we escape the realization that it is unmatched by love from any other source? Mankind doesn't earn or deserve this kind of love, but the goodness of true believers is living testament to its existence. One of my favorite passages in the Scriptures has become PS 43: 3-4, "Send forth Your light and Your truth, let them guide me; let them bring me to Your holy mountain, to the place where You dwell. Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my Joy and my delight. I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God." Can't we just see David with his harp leading us to praise of God? Another favorite is PS 119: 93, "I will never forget Thy precepts: for with them Thou has quickened me." God breathed life into our physical bodies at the time we were conceived. While on earth, we inherit sin, but God breathes life into our spirits when we repent, come to faith in Christ, and spend our lives living according to His teaching. Our emotional and intellectual selves are given life too. If we have true faith, we come to the place where we can ask the question and make the plea of PS 19: 12-13, "Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults. Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me." We can also understand PS 62: 5, "Only God gives inward peace, and I depend on Him." Faith in Him is the greatest source of blessings one can have.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn