In our last post, we talked about God’s instruction to Israel to annihilate the Amorites in the land of Canaan because of their wickedness and their lack of responding to God and turning from their wicked practices. God used Israel to enact the consequence to the Amorite’s sin but was also raising Israel to be his standard to the world. Let’s look more closely at this concept.

Israel was to be the standard to the world. For Israel to be a light to the rest of the world, Israel had to eliminate all elements which were ungodly. A standard must be flawless, or else it is not a standard. This was the reason Israel was held to a higher standard than other nations. All the laws given to Israel was for Israel, not for other nations to follow.

In addition, Israel was not to exclude outsiders from their land – after all, three main trade routes connecting three continents (Africa, Europe, and Asia) went through this area: Way of the Sea (later known as Via Maria), Ridge Route, and King’s Highway. All three of these trade routes would bring Gentiles through Israel so they could be taught the ways of God. Isael was to become the moral compass for the world. If Israel obeyed God and received all the blessings promised them (abundant rain, abundant crops, lush landscape, and longevity; Dt 28:1-14), that would be a testimony to all those who would pass through Israel on any of these three routes and inquire what makes things different here.

However, those living within the boundaries of Israel would be required to exclude wicked practices. Non-Israelites had to abide by the same laws of the land as the Israelites did (Ex 12:48-49, 20:10; Lv 16:29, 17:12, 15; Nu 15:14, 16). It seems God has always expected mankind to understand and follow what he knows is right (Ro 1:18-20), whether being his “chosen” people or not. Justice seems to always follow a failed response to the love of God’s longsuffering.

God allowed non-Israelites to live in the land but also had requirements for them. God often put the alien living in the land in the same category as the poor, orphan, and widow. This is because they were now a minority. They were to be taken care of in a loving way: allowed to glean the corners of fields and left-overs following olive and grape harvests (Lv 23:22; Dt 24:20-21), were to be treated judiciously (Dt 1:16; 24:17), should not be taken advantage of (Dt 24:14), and part of the third-year tithe would be for the alien (Dt 26:12). This was because God stated he loved the alien (Dt 10:18), and the Israelites were to remember they were once slaves in Egypt (Dt 24:22). This helped to train the Israelites to be kind to their neighbors who were not like them and to allow the non-Israelite to see how God loved them as well.

Those Gentiles living in the land had to obey the laws of the land (Ex 12:49; Lv 24:22):
• allowed to glean the corners of fields and left-overs following olive and grape harvests (Lv 23:22; Dt 24:20-21)
• had to observe the Sabbath (Ex 20:10)
• had to not work on the Day of Atonement (Lv 16:29)
• could not eat blood (Lv 17:10) but had to drain the blood from the animal before preparing and eating (Lv 17:13)
• had to cleanse themselves when encountering anything dead (Lv 17:15)
• would be put to death if they offered their children as a sacrifice to any god (Lv 20:2) or if they blasphemed the name of the Lord (Lv 24:16)
• had to abide by the rules of redemption and of the Jubilee (Lv 25:47-50) and had to abide by the decisions of the judges of the land (Dt 1:16)
• They were to be taught about God and His Law, just as were the Israelites (Dt 31:12-13).
• If they decided to become a proselyte, then all the Mosaic laws applied, and all males had to be circumcised before they could celebrate Passover (Ex 12:48).

God was inclusionary but required righteous living.

Also, God always gave warnings before his justice was administered. Before the flood, God announced coming judgment and the need for repentance (Gn 6:5-7) and announced a flood was coming during the time of Noah (Gn 6:17). He gave the Amorites time to repent before administering his justice (Gn 15:16). God announced his plans to the king of Nineveh (Jh 3:4-5), to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon (Dn 2), to Cyrus, king of Medo-Persia (Is 45:1-13), and gave visions to Alexander the Great. Paul gave the gospel to Caesar’s household (Pp 4:22) during the time of the Roman Empire. Unfortunately, it seems that most of these did not heed his warning. He has also given us a warning of future judgment in his word.

God also glorified himself among the Gentiles. He did not restrict himself just to Israel. The king of Nineveh did respond to Jonah’s preaching (Jh 3:5) and gave Nineveh another one-hundred years before it was finally destroyed. Nebuchadnezzar did finally recognize the authority of God (Dn 4:37), and several times did announce to his entire kingdom that the One True God was to be respected (Dn 2:47; 3:28-29). Several of the kings of Persia did the same (Dn 6:26; Er 1:1-2). Many of Caesar’s household in Rome accepted Christ as their Savior (Pp 4:22).

So, what happened? We know that this ideal state for Israel being a calling card to the rest of the world and to show the world the path to God did not happen. Rather than being inclusionary, they became exclusionary. They used God’s words about them being his chosen possession to mean they were special, meaning, at least in their way of thinking, all others were not special. So, rather than harmony, disharmony occurred. Disobedience led to cursing rather than blessing (Dt 28:15). Then, as typical, and with Satan egging on the disharmony, things never got turned around. Even the coming of their promised Messiah did not produce the harmony that even the Jewish leaders taught. Satan had truly sold them a bill of goods they could not see beyond.

Next time, we’ll look at the New Testament in light of God’s love and justice and see how that affects us today. Please join me.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

Sin is a topic that makes many people uncomfortable. It makes me uncomfortable. But it is necessary.

We all have a comfort zone. It’s where we feel at home – safe. Yet, more times than not, that is not where we need to be. We crave for our lives to be magical; yet, the “magic” is rarely in our comfort zone. So, we must deal with the “Un-comfort zone.” We must pass through this to get to the “magic zone.” Both Christians and non-Christians can be in the comfort zone. They can both even be in the Un-comfort zone. But they both must deal with an issue in this “Un-comfort zone.” And that issue is sin.

But before we can deal with the issue of sin and our sin problem, we must deal with our definition of sin. Often, our definition of sin prevents us from dealing with our sin problem. It can also prevent us from understanding the concept of sin itself. Not only that, it prevents us from entering the “magic zone.”

What is sin? One definition states: an immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law.

At first glance, it looks to be a decent definition. Right? Yet, there are two issues with this definition. One is the world ‘considered.’ This implies someone is regarding an act to be against divine law. What if someone else deems it not to be? Second, is the word ‘immoral.’ Who is determining a certain act is immoral? On what grounds? This definition gets us into conflict with each other. I deem something is immoral and regard it an act against divine law. You deem the same act not immoral and, therefore, not against divine law. Does that sound familiar to us today?

Here is another definition. This is the Bible’s definition: Anything God states is against his nature.

Now, who is making the judgment call? God. This is not talking about an ‘act,’ but about the essence of God. Therefore, it is a more abstract concept than just an act. As humans, we have a tough time with that definition. We turn things into an act – it’s easier to quantitate in our minds. Yet, it then makes us become judgmental.

I’m not going to make a list as I don’t want us to get off topic. Yet, there are a number recorded in the Bible. It’s not so much about what the act is, but the way we see sin. If I were to rattle off a list to you, some would likely stand out to you to be more serious to you than others. We tend to cling to the first definition of sin I mentioned. Some acts of sin we see as more “sinful” that others. Why is that?

Well, the sin you personally don’t have an issue with, you will likely consider more “sinful.” That’s because that sin is not an issue in your life. Therefore, consciously, or unconsciously, you think, how could anyone yield to such a sin?

We need to realize that everyone is working on something. None of us is perfect, and we each have different weaknesses that Satan constantly uses to try and bring us down. His tactics use ignorance, guilt, consequences, or even a combination of these. So, how do we overcome this tendency to quantitate sin and rank different acts on a scale of “not so bad,” to “heinous?”

Again, either consciously or unconsciously, we compare ourselves to each other. If you appear blacker than I do, then I can feel better about myself. Maybe, you even convince yourself that the issue you are struggling with isn’t even a sin at all. If accepted by society, then why worry about it? But, if we compare ourselves to the true standard, then the differences between the two go away. We realize that one of us is just as far from the mark as the other. If the standard is pure white, why argue whether onyx or obsidian is darker?

God has a pretty black and white view of sin. Why? When perfection is the standard, anything less is just not good enough. It’s a pass-fail scenario. In that case, if the standard is 100, it doesn’t matter if you made 99 or 50, you still fall short. Until we view sin as God sees sin, then we will never fully understand from what we have been saved.

Is it better to be saved from drug addiction or be saved when very young and never have to go through such hard times? Of course, you would say not having to go through such rough times is better. Yet, who becomes more appreciative? Only when you see sin from God’s perspective can you see that your “not so bad” sin is just as black as one’s “heinous” sin. Only then can you really appreciate what God has saved you from.

All sin has something in common. That’s what we’ll talk about next time. Until then, think about how you can see the world from God’s perspective. It may just change your life. Think about it. What did you discover?

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens