Statutes

This week's Sabbath reading portion is called B'chukkotai meaning "In My statutes" in English. In Leviticus 26, the LORD's Word to Moses to deliver to the children of Israel includes, "If you walk (yalak - proceed, manner of life, to live, to die) in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them..." (Lev. 26:3). The LORD then describes all of the blessings that will fill the land as a result of walking in His statutes: "I will give you rain in its season, the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit...you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely...I will give peace in the land...none will make you afraid; I will rid the land of evil beasts...." (v. 4-6). I would like to interrupt the listing of blessings to look more closely at the phrase "I will rid the land of evil beasts". The word "rid" is the Hebrew word sabat, which has to do with the Sabbath. It is the part of the meaning of the Sabbath that has to do with warfare, and means "to cease, away, remove, exterminate, destroy" (see last week's entry below this one titled "Jubilee" for more information regarding the Sabbath). The word "beasts" is the Hebrew word hay/haya which means alive, living thing, creature/to revive, quicken, save, life, recover, to live prosperously, restore to life". It is a powerful word. It is used in these examples from scripture: "O LORD, you brought my soul up from the grave; You hae kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit." (Ps. 30:3). And, "The LORD will preserve him and keep him alive, and he will be blessed on the earth." (Ps. 41:2). The word "evil" used in the phrase is the Hebrew word ra, which means "evil, trouble, wickedness, afflictions, mischief, adversity, harm, distress, injury, calamity, grief, hurt, sadness, to break". So God will exterminate all of the evil that works the opposite of life, and restored life, as defined above. The list of blessings that result from observing God's statutes continues: "...the sword will not go through your land...your enemies shall fall by the sword before you...I will look on you favorably and make you fruitful, multiply you and confirm (qum - to raise up, rise up, arise, accomplish, bring (come) on the scene) My covenant with you...I will set My tabernacle among you...My soul shall not abhor you...I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people..." (Lev. 26:6-12). There is also another promise in v. 10 about clearing out the old harvest because of the new. However, in the Hebrew word meanings, there is a much deeper thing going on: "the slack and sleeping will be brought out, will come out, in the face of, in the presence of, a new, unheard of thing, having been renewed, repaired, and made anew". To me, this brings to mind the scripture: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." (2 Cor. 5:17). As we can see, the resulting blessings from walking (see above) in the statutes of God are many and deep in meaning. The statutes are are manner of life, for a whole lifetime. Couldn't our nation and our people benefit from the beautiful blessings above that come from walking and living in the statutes of God, especially in these troubling times? We often think of the LORD's statutes as a set of rules. It is a good time to find out that the meaning of "statute" in Hebrew is more encompassing than our initial impression. The word for "statute" in Hebrew is huqqa, which, including its root word, means "that which is established or defined, limit, boundary, appointed, to cut into, engrave, stamp violently, encounter violently". The statutes are like an appointed boundary line violently cut into the spiritual ground. Something exists on one side of that boundary line, while something else exists on the other side of the line. The individual pictographic Hebrew letters of the word, cheth, qoph and heh, which make up the word huqqa, or statute, also combine to form a similar meaning: Behold the revelation -to be cut off, separated, fenced and protected from the past, from what is behind. Walking in the statutes of God keeps us within a spiritually protected area. Adam and Eve had dwelled within a fenced or enclosed garden that we call the Garden of Eden. When they broke the statute of God, they ended up forced out of that protected area (Gen. 3:23-24), and became subject to "the manner of life" that existed beyond that boundary - sweat, hardship, troubles, pain and ultimately, death (Gen. 3:16-19). At that point, all the LORD could do for them after they broke the statute was to send them out with one of the greatest promises in scripture, a promise of restoration through the Messiah to come (Gen. 3:14-15). As part of that promise, God also clothed the old or fallen man with tunics of sacrificed life (Gen. 3:21). Proverbs 30:5 says, "Every word of God is pure (sarap - tested and proved true, refined like gold); He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him." The tried and proven nature of the Word of God is a shield of protection for us. Even in trials and trouble, it is still fencing and drawing the line of separation that sets a boundary. Regarding the written statutes of God, Jeremiah received an amazing prophetic Word from the LORD: "Behold the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah - not according to the covenant I made with their fathers...My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them...But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts (inward parts); and I will be their God, and they shall be My people...I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." (Jer. 31:31-34). A time would come, prophesied by the LORD, when His statutes would be internalized within His people, not just to be read only, but "to become" within us. Although it is a powerful prophecy, I doubt that it was received enthusiastically by the religious minds of the time. Perhaps they said, "A new covenant? We like the old one! What kind of blasphemy is this?" Jeremiah was not popular even before he gave this specific Word of prophecy - he spent a lot of time in prisons and pits! However, the LORD proved Jeremiah to be a true prophet by fulfilling the prophecies He gave to him. We will see the fulfillment of Jeremiah's prophecy of a new covenant, this internalizing of the statutes of God, and the continuing spiritual boundary line or fence of protection from the past things that they provide. As Jesus brought the new covenant to us in His blood (Lk. 22:15, 19-20), He was identified as the Word of God that became flesh (Jn. 1:1-3, 14). He said that He did not come to destroy (katalyo - dissolve, disunite (what has been joined together), overthrow, deprive of success) the law and the prophets but to fulfill them (pleroo - to cause to abound, to consummate, to complete in every particular, to carry through to the end, to bring to realization) (see Mt. 5:17-19). This is how Jesus described how He would accomplish that by saying, "He who has sent Me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I heard from Him...I do nothing of Myself: but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things...If you abide (meno - not to depart, remain in a place, stay, live, dwell, not to become another or different) in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free...Most assuredly I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death...I do know Him (the Father) and keep His word." (Jn. 8:26, 28, 31-32, 51, 55). Jesus urged His disciples to remain in the Word which He had delivered to them from His Father in Heaven. Jesus also said, "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me and I in you...He who abides in Me and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing...If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit..." (Jn. 15:3-8, excerpt). We see again clearly the role that the Word of God, in Christ, in us, changes life. Before His arrest and death, Jesus prayed to His Father concerning God's Word and His disciples then, and those who would become His disciples in future generations: "I have given them Your word...Sanctify (hageeadzo - to separate from profane things and dedicate to God, to make holy, purify by expiation, purify by renewing of the soul) them by Your truth. Your word is truth." (Jn. 17:14, 17). Here the work of truth, which is the Word of God, acts as a separating or dividing force that purifies and renews. Through this new covenant prophesied by Jeremiah, and fulfilled in Christ, where the LORD places His Word in our inward parts, the statutes of God have gone from being the letter on the page to being a life giving Spirit in us, as Paul wrote (2 Cor. 3:6-9). Now it is written of us: "...clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that it, of the heart." (2 Cor. 3:3). We can see the progression of the statutes of God as He promised. They have gone from stone to living hearts as we abide in Christ. If you would like to learn more about being an epistle of Christ, you can pray with me: "Lord Jesus, I pray that the Word of God, the statutes of God, are written in my heart, and incorporated in my life in a way that all men may read them. By the Holy Spirit, I want to abide in Your Word, the same Word of the Father, that it may become abundant and everlasting life in me and others. You sanctify me in the Word and statutes of God because they are truth. I believe and receive this in Your holy name, Jesus, AMEN."