Originally posted: 05/21/2019
“There shall be one standard for you; it shall be for the stranger as well as the native, for I am the Lord your God,” (24:22).
The Hebrew word translated as standard in the New American Standard Bible is also translated as law in the NIV, KJV and NKJV, and as rule in the ESV.
The Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance defines the Hebrew word as:
4941. מִשְׁפָּט mišpāṭ: A masculine noun meaning a judgment, a legal decision, a legal case, a claim, proper, rectitude.
We may struggle and find it difficult to grasp the severity of the LORD’s punishments as revealed in Leviticus, but we must never forget He is perfect in holiness and in His judgments and legal decisions; He is perfect in His Set Standard.
Consider His Set Standard
- His Set Standard sanctifies Him alone as worthy of all honor and reverence.
- “You shall speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘If anyone curses his God, then he will bear his sin. 16 Moreover, the one who blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall certainly stone him. The alien as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death,’” (24:15-16).
- His Set Standard settles the value of life.
- “If a man takes the life of any human being, he shall surely be put to death. 18 The one who takes the life of an animal shall make it good, life for life. 19 If a man injures his neighbor, just as he has done, so it shall be done to him: 20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; just as he has injured a man, so it shall be inflicted on him. 21 Thus the one who kills an animal shall make it good, but the one who kills a man shall be put to death,” (24:17-21).
- His Set Standard summons all, without exception, to obedience.
- “There shall be one standard for you; it shall be for the stranger as well as the native, for I am the Lord your God,” (24:22).
How should we respond to His Set Standard?
Leviticus 24 begins with a command to make provision for the lamp, to ensure it would burn continually before the LORD.
Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the sons of Israel that they bring to you clear oil from beaten olives for the light, to make a lamp burn continually. 3 Outside the veil of testimony in the tent of meeting, Aaron shall keep it in order from evening to morning before the Lord continually; it shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations. 4 He shall keep the lamps in order on the pure gold lampstand before the Lord continually,” (24:1-4).
We live in a day of personal preference; a time when people are offended by the light, offended when the idea of absolute truth is even mentioned.
As we consider His Set Standard, we cannot evaluate God’s ways through the world’s concept of truth. Truth is not relative; truth is His Set Standard. We must continuously seek truth in His light, in the light of His Word and in the Light Himself.
Your word is a lamp to my feet
And a light to my path, (Psalm 119:105).
Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life,” (John 8:12).
In Christ, the regulations and demands of the Ceremonial Law have been fulfilled.
“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. 18 For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished,” (Matthew 5:17-18).
Yes, the Law has been fulfilled in Jesus, but there are timeless principles we must never disregard. Let us always approach His Word prayerfully and eagerly, searching for His timeless principles, that we would grow in honoring Him at all times, in valuing the life He has given through birth and in Christ, and in obeying without hesitation all He commands.
His Set Standard sanctifies Him alone as worthy of all honor and reverence. Let us obey Him through faith that honors Him in reverence.
-
- “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain,” (Exodus 20:7).
- “Truly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— 30 because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit,” (Mark 3:28-30).
- The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son, (1 John 5:10).
His Set Standard settles the value of life. Let us obey Him as we value the life He has given us through our faith and gratitude.
-
- God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them, (Genesis 1:27).
- Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me,” (John 14:6).
- but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name, (John 20:31).
- Jesus gave his life for our sins, just as God our Father planned, in order to rescue us from this evil world in which we live, (Galatians 1:4 NLT).
His Set Standard summons all, without exception, to obedience. Let us obey Him as we answer His summons to faith, that we would walk in the truth of His gift of eternal life.
-
- for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (Romans 3:23).
- And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved, (Acts 4:12).
- The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son. 11 And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. (1 John 5:10-12).
Lord Jesus, thank You for summoning us to Yourself. Father, may we live all our days by faith, that we would honor You and value the life You have given us in Your Son. Thank You for the privilege we have received to demonstrate our love to You and please enable us, by Your Holy Spirit, to walk in obedience to Your Set Standard.
“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments,” (John 14:15).