Leviticus 18
IN THIS chapter the Lord continues His solemn charge to His people Israel first reminding them that He was the Lord their God. They were not to do “after the doings of the land of Egypt,” wherein they dwelt, nor after the doings of the land of Canaan into which He was going to bring them. They had left the house of bondage bind with its idols and impurities, and they were about to enter Canaan where the Amorites dwelt. They were redeemed, outwardly at least, and sheltered from divine judgment in Egypt by the blood of the passover lamb, and they had been delivered by divine power through the Red Sea which swallowed up their enemies—type of Satan and the world. The Lord had brought them to Himself and they were His people as no other nation was. This was plain to all—to themselves and to all the nations around them. Thus in their conduct day by day they were responsible to walk in holiness before the Lord.
The Christian’s responsibility is no less real than Israel’s, only the more so because he has eternal life in Christ, he has passed from death unto life and shall not come unto judgment, for the blood of Christ has cleansed him from every sin and he is white as snow in God’s sight. As Christians, we are called to holiness, “Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy” (1 Pet. 1:1616Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. (1 Peter 1:16)).
In this chapter the people were warned against secret sins, for the Lord knows all the secrets of our lives. Everything done in the dark is known to Him as though it were done in the light. The day is coming “when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ.” Rom. 2:1616In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. (Romans 2:16). May the Lord give us that spirit of holiness, which would abhor all that He abhors.
Here God sets His face against the shameful abominations outlined in this chapter. His name from beginning to end is a solemn warrant against them all. It may be painful to read, but it is wholesome for us to learn what those nations, so civilized as Egypt and Canaan, fell into. It was for these very abominations that God visited judgment upon the Canaanites. The land, as it were, vomited out its inhabitants; so that Israel is called on to beware lest the land should vomit them out as it had the nations that dwelt there before them.
We live in a day when the very sins and iniquities told out in these chapters are fast becoming a way of life with many. Little do men and women realize the awful judgment that is soon to fall upon these favored lands of Christendom, and as we see the darkness increasing and man’s evil coming more and more into the open, we know that judgment is drawing near.
We should not forget that even as Christians we still have dwelling within us that old nature which is capable of any of these sins. May we be much upon our knees in prayer, dear young Christian, asking the Lord to keep us and not be occupied with the evils around, but to be occupied with good, with Himself, the pure and spotless One who loves us, died for us, and to whom we now belong. We ought to pray continually the prayer of the godly man in Psalm 16:11<<Michtam of David.>> Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust. (Psalm 16:1): “Preserve me, O God, for in Thee do I put my trust.”
ML-06/11/1972