the watcher

Leviticus 25:17 Show your fear of God by not taking advantage of each other. I am the Lord your God. The nature of believers is that of humility and peace, a product of love and joy because of God's Spirit indwelling in us. Another may want to take advantage of this godly nature to defraud a brethren. Woe unto them! God warned the children Israel about this evil through Moses. Leviticus 19:13 “Do not defraud or rob your neighbor.“Do not make your hired workers wait until the next day to receive their pay. Christ warned against it too: Mark 10:19 But to answer your question, you know the commandments: ‘You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. You must not cheat anyone. Honor your father and mother.’” We hear complains of a brethren defrauding another in one thing or the other. It was so even in the early church: 1 Corinthians 6:8,10 Instead, you yourselves are the ones who do wrong and cheat even your fellow believers. or a

Leviticus 25:2 “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. When you have entered the land I am giving you, the land itself must observe a Sabbath rest before the Lord every seventh year. There seems to be a significance of the seventh in the Heavenly reign. From the Sabbath being placed on the seventh day to the unclean periods set to seven days, Pharaoh's dream of famine and even to the seven lampstands and of course the seven churches etc. It is known in certain circles as the number of completeness. In today's reading we see Moses instructing the people about the seventh year of Sabbath rest for the land. I cannot boast that I have all the revelation concerning the sabbath, that is, the issue of what day or year it is. However we must understand the mystery of the sabbath. Matthew 12:8 For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day. and: Isaiah 1:12-14 When you come to worship me, who asked you to parade through my courts with all your ceremony? Stop bringi

Leviticus 24:20,23 a fracture for a fracture, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Whatever anyone does to injure another person must be paid back in kind. After Moses gave all these instructions to the Israelites, they took the blasphemer outside the camp and stoned him to death. The Israelites did just as the Lord had commanded Moses. There is definitely a difference in the dispensation of the law and that of grace. John 1:17 For the law was given through Moses, but God’s unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ. For in the law the power of sin and death reigned, death had a filled day. Jesus told the people of Israel: Matthew 5:38-39 “You have heard the law that says the punishment must match the injury: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say, do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also. He also said: Matthew 5:21-24 “You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you co

 Leviticus 24:3-4 This is the lampstand that stands in the Tabernacle, in front of the inner curtain that shields the Ark of the Covenant. Aaron must keep the lamps burning in the Lord’s presence all night. This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed from generation to generation. Aaron and the priests must tend the lamps on the pure gold lampstand continually in the Lord’s presence. Earlier on Moses had instructed the priests about the Lord's command to keep the fire at the tabernacle burning. In the reading today we see the instruction for the lamps to keep burning. There was no room for time out! What we are to consider today is what the lampstand represent and what the fire also represents to the believer. A good description from the new testament to explain this is Christ's parable of the ten virgins. Matthew 25:1-5 “Then the Kingdom of Heaven will be like ten bridesmaids who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish,

Leviticus 23:42-44 For seven days you must live outside in little shelters. All native-born Israelites must live in shelters. This will remind each new generation of Israelites that I made their ancestors live in shelters when I rescued them from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.” So Moses gave the Israelites these instructions regarding the annual festivals of the Lord. One major reason for all the festivals and celebrations the Lord told Moses to give as instructions to the children of Israel was to make them remember Him and what He has done for them. Truly the people were always prone to forget the victories of the past and to focus on the present challenges or bliss, thus getting carried away with sin or idols. Leviticus 23:43 This will remind each new generation of Israelites that I made their ancestors live in shelters when I rescued them from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.” Deuteronomy 8:12-14 For when you have become full and prosperous and have built fine

Leviticus 23:7,21,24,27 On the first day of the festival, all the people must stop their ordinary work and observe an official day for holy assembly. That same day will be proclaimed an official day for holy assembly, a day on which you do no ordinary work. This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed from generation to generation wherever you live. “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. On the first day of the appointed month in early autumn, you are to observe a day of complete rest. It will be an official day for holy assembly, a day commemorated with loud blasts of a trumpet. “Be careful to celebrate the Day of Atonement on the tenth day of that same month—nine days after the Festival of Trumpets. You must observe it as an official day for holy assembly, a day to deny yourselves and present special gifts to the Lord. Yesterday we looked at the Lord's festivals, we saw the need to celebrate the Lord daily in our lives. Today we see it again and aga

Leviticus 23:1-4 The Lord said to Moses, “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. These are the Lord’s appointed festivals, which you are to proclaim as official days for holy assembly. “You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of complete rest, an official day for holy assembly. It is the Lord’s Sabbath day, and it must be observed wherever you live. “In addition to the Sabbath, these are the Lord’s appointed festivals, the official days for holy assembly that are to be celebrated at their proper times each year. The Lord told Moses to commanded the people of Israel to keep certain festivals. The question people ask is if it applies to believers too. Firstly, we must understand that there is nothing wrong in keeping this festivals however, the purpose of the festivals have been fulfilled. Christ was the fulfilment of the law. Matthew 5:17-19 “Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses

Leviticus 22:29,32 When you bring a thanksgiving offering to the Lord, sacrifice it properly so you will be accepted. Do not bring shame on my holy name, for I will display my holiness among the people of Israel. I am the Lord who makes you holy. We have established that when we talk of the Lord's temple today we are talking of us as living vessels and that all believers as a whole is the body of Christ. Thus, we preserve our body in holiness that we will be acceptable to the Lord. The other part of Leviticus chapter 22 talks about bringing an offering to the Lord.  Firstly, let us understand that God is King and by default we cannot offer a defective offering to royalty. We must give honour to the Lord.  Listen, it is better not to bring any gift at all than to bring a defective offering. For God is the greatest, whatever we offer to Him must also be without blemish. Malachi 1:6-10 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies says to the priests: “A son honors his father, and a servant respects hi

Leviticus 22:9 “The priests must follow my instructions carefully. Otherwise they will be punished for their sin and will die for violating my instructions. I am the Lord who makes them holy. The dispensation of the law and it's legalism has been fulfilled, what we have now is grace and truth. This does not mean we disobey the law but that we live in a higher law, the one that operated even before the law itself was given.  Jesus told His disciples and of course this applies to us: Matthew 5:20 “But I warn you—unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven! When Christ came, He didn't come to build a physical temple like Moses did in building the tabernacle. No. Christ came to build the type of temple God would live in, Man! Acts 7:48 However, the Most High doesn’t live in temples made by human hands. As the prophet says, We became the temple of God, remember what Christ t

Leviticus 21:16-17 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Give the following instructions to Aaron: In all future generations, none of your descendants who has any defect will qualify to offer food to his God. Reading through Leviticus 24, we see God's instructions for priest and how stringent it is. Yes you hear words like "the priest must . . .". We see repercussion for every command given. Priesthood was a serious business. What do we have today? People who claim that they where called into ministry living more disgusting lives than normal believers. They are first to say things like,  * it doesn't matter * no one is holy * do not judge * we are only humans .* God understands etc You then wonder who forced them to carry the mantle I always say this:"no one is forced into ministry". Therefore if you must be in ministry you must live up to the responsibility and be accountable. Some others would recount: "God do not call the qualified but qualify those He calls

John 10:14 I am the good shepherd, and know my [sheep], and am known of mine. Psalm 23:1 The LORD [is] my shepherd; I shall not want. The book of Psalms contains so much prophesy of Christ and His church. David was not just anointed King but he also received the office of a Prophet. His ministry of music was so powerful that immediately David began to play/minister the spirit that troubled Saul left him. Psalm 23 describes the Father revealed in His Son, the Messiah, as the good Shepherd just as the Messiah Himself declared. John 10:11,14 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep. “I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, He says "I shall not want" meaning that all my needs are met. That is the good Shepherd, he always makes sure we are catered for. Halleluyah Matthew 6:8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. Going on to verse 2: Psalm 23:2 He maketh

Leviticus 20:7-8,26 So set yourselves apart to be holy, for I am the Lord your God. Keep all my decrees by putting them into practice, for I am the lord who makes you holy. You must be holy because I, the Lord, am holy. I have set you apart from all other people to be my very own. (Read: Leviticus 20:1-27) We see God's instructions to the children of Israel concerning holy living. There were specific instructions concerning actions that would lead to death, the major ones had to do with: * sacrificing one's child to an idol * sexual immorality with blood relations * adultery * homosexuality and beastiality * sorcery and all those who practice all types of mediums One thing we must understand about these practices is that they make the culprit unholy. They are no longer separated to God but are making themselves properties of strange spirits. Thus they become a cast away. Does this change even for believers? No. It remains the same, and more so because your body has been bought

Ephesians 5:5 Being certain of this, that no man who gives way to the passions of the flesh, no unclean person, or one who has desire for the property of others, or who gives worship to images, has any heritage in the kingdom of Christ and God. Very scary truth that God wants us to beware of. Exodus 20: 4-5a "You shall not make for yourself any carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth;  you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. When you read the old testament you have to read it without the veil. 2Corinthians 3:16 Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. That is the gift of God, liberty from ignorance of grace and who God is. Today this image therefore is not limited to graven idols as in pagan worship but just as the enemy has modified other types of deceit, the images have also been modified. What is an image? A representation of something, be it a pict

Leviticus 19:1-2,37 The Lord also said to Moses, “Give the following instructions to the entire community of Israel. You must be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy. “You must be careful to keep all of my decrees and regulations by putting them into practice. I am the Lord.” All the instructions Moses gave the children of Israel were for a reason. It was for their well being. Some of these commandments were given because they were camped in the wilderness some were clearly for when the arrived at the promise land. Most of the laws pertained to the children of Israel alone, however we will note that some included all foreigners living with them. When Christ came, He brought light into the law, He made us see what the law truly was about and fulfilled them. Just as He said: Matthew 5:17-20 “Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose. I tell you the truth, until heaven and e

Leviticus 18:2-3,30 “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. I am the Lord your God. So do not act like the people in Egypt, where you used to live, or like the people of Canaan, where I am taking you. You must not imitate their way of life. So obey my instructions, and do not defile yourselves by committing any of these detestable practices that were committed by the people who lived in the land before you. I am the Lord your God.” The children of Israel where coming into a land where others had inhabited, they were to displace people who were removed because their ways did not please the Lord. Thus there is no justification for God's people to continue in the same errors and sins that caused the punishment of people who were there before them. So, they were being properly warned. The same way as believers, we must be careful about the way we live our lives. Christ came and paid the price for our redemption, not only that, He empowered us by His Spirit to walk in

Leviticus 17:11,14 for the life of the body is in its blood. I have given you the blood on the altar to purify you, making you right with the lord. It is the blood, given in exchange for a life, that makes purification possible. The life of every creature is in its blood. That is why I have said to the people of Israel, ‘You must never eat or drink blood, for the life of any creature is in its blood.’ So whoever consumes blood will be cut off from the community. Moses' instruction concerning the blood saw him declare from God that the life of every creature is in it's blood. This is why blood sacrifices take place, it is the life of the person or animal that is given. Thus in eating blood we take up the form of that life! Now let us understand it, many have become careless as believers because of the liberty we have in Christ Jesus, however, spiritual discipline cannot be trivialized. There is life in blood and we must not take it for granted. So let us come to the blood that w

Leviticus 16:2,16,21-22,34 The Lord said to Moses, “Warn your brother, Aaron, not to enter the Most Holy Place behind the inner curtain whenever he chooses; if he does, he will die. For the Ark’s cover—the place of atonement—is there, and I myself am present in the cloud above the atonement cover. Through this process, he will purify the Most Holy Place, and he will do the same for the entire Tabernacle, because of the defiling sin and rebellion of the Israelites. He will lay both of his hands on the goat’s head and confess over it all the wickedness, rebellion, and sins of the people of Israel. In this way, he will transfer the people’s sins to the head of the goat. Then a man specially chosen for the task will drive the goat into the wilderness. As the goat goes into the wilderness, it will carry all the people’s sins upon itself into a desolate land. This is a permanent law for you, to purify the people of Israel from their sins, making them right with the Lord once each year.”Moses

Leviticus 15:19,25,32-33 “Whenever a woman has her menstrual period, she will be ceremonially unclean for seven days. Anyone who touches her during that time will be unclean until evening. “If a woman has a flow of blood for many days that is unrelated to her menstrual period, or if the blood continues beyond the normal period, she is ceremonially unclean. As during her menstrual period, the woman will be unclean as long as the discharge continues. These are the instructions for dealing with anyone who has a bodily discharge—a man who is unclean because of an emission of semen or a woman during her menstrual period. It applies to any man or woman who has a bodily discharge, and to a man who has sexual intercourse with a woman who is ceremonially unclean.” Reading through Leviticus 15 and other chapters about clean and unclean scenarios we begin to see how frail man had become because of the death that came with the original sin. No wonder scripture records: Proverbs 14:34b but sin is a

1 Thessalonians 5:15-22 See that no one pays back evil for evil, but always try to do good to each other and to all people. Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. Do not stifle the Holy Spirit. Do not scoff at prophecies, but test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good. Stay away from every kind of evil. There is a misconception of the law and grace, we could very well miss it, if we don't walk in knowledge and wisdom. There is something common between the two - DO's and DON'T(s)! Our opening verses are from Paul's letter to the church in Thessalonica and to all churches in general. Actually all his letters are for all churches. (For those who would want to argue this, please read: Colossians 4:16 After you have read this letter, pass it on to the church at Laodicea so they can read it, too. And you should read the letter I wrote to them.) There is no way you will have

Leviticus 14:40-42 the priest must order that the stones from those areas be removed. The contaminated material will then be taken outside the town to an area designated as ceremonially unclean. Next the inside walls of the entire house must be scraped thoroughly and the scrapings dumped in the unclean place outside the town. Other stones will be brought in to replace the ones that were removed, and the walls will be replastered. There is a book about the believer's journey on earth, it is called: "the pilgrim's progress" it is a Christian allegory written in 1678 by John Bunyan.  The story talked of a christian's journey from the city of destruction to the celestial city. What I am interested in when referring to this story is that the believer encounters so many challenges on the journey, however none of them should cut the journey off. In our study today, we see how Moses instructed the people and the priest on how to deal with contamination in their houses. Fi

Leviticus 13:2,45-46 “If anyone has a swelling or a rash or discolored skin that might develop into a serious skin disease, that person must be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons. “Those who suffer from a serious skin disease must tear their clothing and leave their hair uncombed. They must cover their mouth and call out, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ As long as the serious disease lasts, they will be ceremonially unclean. They must live in isolation in their place outside the camp. Medical counsel and guidance were giving as part of the law from Moses at that time, reading through Leviticus chapters 13 and 14 you see what we now know as "infection control", to ensure that there was no epidemic. However let us look at one part of that instruction and how a twist in it revealed what happens when Christ steps in. Look at verse 45: Leviticus 13:45 “Those who suffer from a serious skin disease must tear their clothing and leave their hair uncombed. They must cover their mout

Leviticus 12:2,5 “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. If a woman becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son, she will be ceremonially unclean for seven days, just as she is unclean during her menstrual period. If a woman gives birth to a daughter, she will be ceremonially unclean for two weeks, just as she is unclean during her menstrual period. After waiting sixty-six days, she will be purified from the bleeding of childbirth. 1 Corinthians 6:11 Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. Hebrews 10:10 For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time. What a great victory Christ won for us, His blood keeps us pure and we no longer need all these physical ceremonial cleansings. The blood of Christ cleanses us from all uncleanliness. 1 John 1:7 But if we are living in the li