Concerning Unfaithful Wives

If an Israelite man suspected his wife of adultery, then he had the right to have her "tested" by the priests. Numbers 5:11-31 describes this process – yet another ritualistic law that causes most readers to shrug their shoulders in confusion and skip on to the next section.

The NKJV refers to this section of scripture as “Concerning Unfaithful Wives.” A man could bring his wife before the priest any time that he thought she might have been unfaithful to their marriage. This could be done as often as the husband chose, and there was no analogous procedure for women to test their husbands. The priest would take some water and add to it a pinch of dust from the floor of the tabernacle. He would also etch an oath into a clay tablet and then scrape the words off into the water. The woman would swear the oath, which said that she had not committed adultery and that she would be cursed if she had, and then she would drink the “bitter water the brings a curse.” Afterwards, if she had been lying, she would become ill: it says that her stomach would swell and her thigh would rot. While the punishment may seem a bit vague, it was probably some condition associated with barrenness, since, if she were telling the truth, it says that she would be free and allowed to have children.

To understand the purpose of this law, we should consider the symbolism of the biblical institution of marriage. God ordained marriage to be between a man and a woman, and for the woman to be subservient to the man “as to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:22). In numerous places throughout the bible, the future relationship of God’s people with Christ is pictured as a marriage, with Christ being the groom and the Church being the bride (Revelation 19:7-9, for example). Human marriage is a “shadow of the things to come” (Hebrews 10:1) - it was created in order to teach us about the relationship that we are supposed to have with God. Likewise, the focus of this particular law was not to help Israelite men catch their adulterous wives – it was pointing to our relationship with (and eventual marriage to) God!

Once we understand this key, the interpretation is simple: God, our future Husband, reserves the right to test us. We have to drink the bitter water of His Word, which comes with a choice between life and death – blessing and cursing. If we have committed spiritual adultery through any form of idolatry, then we will be cursed and cut off from Him. On the other hand, if we are faithful to Him, then we will be blessed and found suitable for marriage. Furthermore, just as in the physical law, our Husband may test us as often as He chooses, and we have no right to test Him in return: He is faithful in all things.

Be Holy, for I am Holy

1 Peter 1:15-16
Just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

What does it mean to "be holy?" God actually told to Israelites to "be holy, because I am holy" many times in the course of giving them His law.  I did a study of all of the times that God instructed people to "be holy" in the Old Testament and came up with the scriptures listed below. In each case, the verse was in the midst of specific commands; therefore, I have summarized the context along with the verse in the following list:

If You Will Not Redeem Him

I tend to find that seemingly archaic and useless laws from the Old Covenant tend to have great depth of meaning if we will take the time to think about them and appreciate them. One such law was that the firstborn offspring of any livestock had to be either sacrificed to God or paid for by a sacrifice:

Exodus 34:19-20
All that open the womb are Mine, and every male firstborn among your livestock, whether ox or sheep.  But the firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb. And if you will not redeem him, then you shall break his neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. And none shall appear before Me empty-handed.

Why did the donkey have to be redeemed instead of sacrificed like the ox or sheep?

The Home of Righteousness

Is there such a concept of the “end of the world” found in the bible? Certainly, if you read the book of Revelation, you’ll find terrible plagues that kill the majority of humanity – but it’s not the end of the world. You’ll then find the return of Christ to reign on earth for 1000 years with the saints in Revelation 20, followed by the Great White Throne Judgment… But what happens then? Is that it? Earth over? Everyone goes to either heaven or hell, while earth has outlived its usefulness? Let’s see what God’s Word has to say about the fate of this terrestrial ball:

2 Peter 3:10-12

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 

According to Peter, it sounds like the earth is done for… But, wait a sec, it says “that day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire” – not only no more earth, but no more heaven either?!? Let’s keep reading: 

2 Peter 3:13

But in keeping with His promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.

AHA! According to the bible, there will be both a new heaven and a new earth – the ones that now exist are going to be destroyed by fire. Not only that – these places will become the “home of righteousness.” Keep in mind that God’s law defines righteousness, and notice what Christ says concerning the coming of the new heaven and new earth:

Matthew 5:17-18

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.

The law defines righteousness, and the earth will be purified by fire and made into a dwelling place for men and women who have been made into righteous, spiritual beings who keep God’s law perfectly.

Hebrews 12:26-29

… but now He has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken – that is, created things – so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.”

The new heaven and new earth will be the home of righteousness. Righteousness cannot be shaken. Therefore, what kind of people ought we to be?

4 Trendy, Short Christian Videos from Beyond Today

In an effort to make my blogging less formal and more engaging, I've decided to start sharing more of the cool (and relevant) stuff that I come across. For today, check out these videos, produced over the course of the last year by the talented production team at Beyond Today:

The Sanctifying Work of the Spirit

The opening statements in many of the letters of the New Testament always sound the same to me. As I was reading a few days ago, I came to the beginning of 1 Peter and noticed just how dense it is:

1 Peter 1:1-2

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to God’s elect… who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with His blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

As my title may suggest, I'm going to focus on what this says about the Spirit, but first I want to cut through the syntax of these verses and highlight the important points:

Jesus Will Build the House for God’s Name

Recall from the previous snack that the book of Hebrews reveals that some of the prophecies concerning Solomon are also applicable to Christ. Of those that I examined, I’d now like to focus on 2 Samuel 7:13: “He is the one who will build a house for my Name.” Let’s notice first of all that Jesus referred to His own body as God’s temple when talking to the Pharisees:

John 2:19

Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”

4 Dual Prophecies of Solomon and Jesus

The introduction to the book of Hebrews contains A LOT of quotes from the Old Testament scriptures. It’s become my practice to stop my reading and look up any such quotes to see if any more significance can be gained by understanding the link between original context and the quoted context. An occasion such as this presented itself when I came to the following verse:

Hebrews 1:5

For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father?” Or again, “I will be his Father, and he will be my Son?”

The second quote being referenced here comes from 2 Samuel 7:14. In context, this verse is part of God’s response to David’s desire to build a temple for God to replace the Tent of Meeting. On one hand, 2 Samuel 7 appears to refer to David’s immediate son, Solomon, who became the next king of Israel and supervised the building of God’s temple. However, here we see the book of Hebrews states that this prophecy of Solomon is also a prophecy of Christ. The implications for Solomon are obvious, but what can we learn about Christ from examining these verses further?

The Fire of the Holy Spirit

In the midst of Paul’s closing remarks to the Thessalonians, he likens the Holy Spirit to a fire that dwells within us:

1 Thessalonians 5:19

Do not put out the Spirit’s fire

It’s easy to read this and say, “Oh, I get it. The Spirit is like a fire and we’re supposed to always have the Spirit in us, like not letting a fire go out” (this was my first thought, anyway). But then I remembered something from the Old Testament. God gave the Old Covenant law for very deliberate and specific reasons. Every sacrifice in Leviticus reveals something special about Christ. Every article of the tabernacle in Exodus reveals something about how we are to live, since we are now the temple of God. Recall one of the Lessons from Psalm 1: we should delight in God’s law, but we cannot delight in the law if we do not know the law. When we read that the Spirit is a fire that we must not put out, then we should remember what is written in the law:

Lessons from Psalm 1

Psalm 1 begins with the following list of actions that cause a man to be blessed:

Psalm 1:1-2

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night.

These are instructions on how to “position ourselves for blessings,” as some have said. There are three things a blessed man does not do: if you want to be blessed, then stop taking advice from the wrong people, don’t live your life the same way that sinners live theirs, and don’t mock God with your attitude. Also, there are two things a blessed man does do: delight in the law of God and think about it all the time.