Bible Study: Clean & Undefiled

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Today is Sunday February 14, 2010 and we are reading through the Bible in a year. Today's message comes from the reading of the Book of Numbers, chapters 5-6. If you would like to read the chapters along with us here online you can Click Here to read them or copy & paste this URL onto your browser: http://www.readytofollow.com/bible-february-14

Title: Bible Study: Clean & Undefiled
When you think of the word clean, what comes to mind? The word clean is defined as something or someone that is unsoiled, innocent, or pure. So, I guess the word unclean would mean something or someone that is soiled, guilty, or impure. God considered any leprous or maimed person as unclean, that meant that any person who was diseased, who touched a dead body, or even who had lost a limb was to be separated from their family and the rest of the congregation. “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Command the children of Israel, that they put out of the camp every leper, and every one that hath an issue, and whosoever is defiled by the dead: Both male and female shall ye put out, without the camp shall ye put them; that they defile not their camps, in the midst whereof I dwell. And the children of Israel did so, and put them out without the camp: as the LORD spake unto Moses, so did the children of Israel.” - Numbers 5:1-4. Now, some would read this and think if God is so loving why did He separate people like that. Well, this is why, disease represents sin and the world and sin is unclean. I do not care how good a person is, if he gets around sin, he sins. As for touching dead bodies, they are full of disease as well, so that furthers the issue of sin. God separated the people so they would not catch the disease. Now, in the case of people losing limbs, it was often because of a disease or they were into something that was sinful, many heathen rituals caused a man to give up limbs and even children as a sacrifice to their god. This did not mean that God did not love them any less, it meant that He wanted His people to be unsoiled, innocent, and pure from anything that was unclean or defiled. If the person was healed he was able to rejoin their family and the rest of the congregation. Today, we too are to remain separated from the world's sin disease, the strongest Christian who gets around sin will sin too, it's just our flesh. I can count numerous times that I had walked into something and did it knowing that it was wrong in order to make a person happy. You see, when we live in the world, even though we love God, we are not strong enough to resist the temptation, and we fall right into sin to please man or simply ourselves, the only way to resist temptation is through the power of God.

Speaking of falling into sin to please man, have you ever wondered how people can become so jealous? Well, God instilled the emotion of jealousy in every couple. Think about it. Ever see a person of the opposite sex go up to your mate, instant jealousy comes to play, even if it is innocent. “Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man's wife go aside, and commit a trespass against him, And a man lie with her carnally, and it be hid from the eyes of her husband, and be kept close, and she be defiled, and there be no witness against her, neither she be taken with the manner; And the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be defiled: or if the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be not defiled: Then shall the man bring his wife unto the priest, and he shall bring her offering for her, the tenth part of an ephah of barley meal; he shall pour no oil upon it, nor put frankincense thereon; for it is an offering of jealousy, an offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to remembrance. ” - Numbers 5:12-15. If a wife even got caught looking like she did something to make the husband jealous she had to go before the priest and prove her innocence. If she was found guilty she literally had a curse fall upon her. Men too if caught in the act of adultery were stoned. I will tell you what, we should all be very blessed, especially women, that we are no longer bound to these laws because we are redeemed by the blood of Christ. Praise God!

Some of the Israelite's took a vow to separate themselves even further from even the Levites were required, these were called Nazarites. “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the LORD: He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried. All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husk. All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head: until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto the LORD, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow. All the days that he separateth himself unto the LORD he shall come at no dead body. He shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother, for his brother, or for his sister, when they die: because the consecration of his God is upon his head. All the days of his separation he is holy unto the LORD.” - Numbers 6:1-8. The word word Nazarite signifies separation. Some were appointed of God, before their birth, to be Nazarites all their days, but, in general, it was a vow of separation from the world and devotedness to the services of God, for a limited time, and under certain rules, which any person might make if they pleased. The Nazarite willingly gave up physical satisfaction to be devoted to the Lord. He did not sacrifice merely his personal pleasures, but his total being to be used of God, examples of these are Samson and John the Baptist. They were types of Christ and what He represents, although He was not a Nazarite Himself. Yet He answered to the Nazarites in His being set apart in divine predestination by His Father to the office of Mediator, in the sanctification of Himself, and devoting Himself, His time, and service, to His Father's glory. There was nothing sinful about eating grapes, for God created the fruit of the vine; but often, we allow even the good things of life to take the place of Christ. Those who have a desire to dedicate their lives to Christ will abstain from pleasures that interfere with serving Him, abstaining from all appearance of evil, including grape juice that looks like wine.

Why were these laws even enforced? To keep a person from committing sin. Think about it, if you knew your body was going to literally rot and swell until it exploded, instantly, would you stay away from committing that sin. Think about it this way. Have you ever stuck your tongue on a 9-volt battery? You get a bit of a shock, right? Well, imagine if the voltage was a lot larger, you would be in a lot of pain and or could die instantly so you know to stay away from it. What this all comes down to is learning to live a moral and clean life. Today, regardless of how much we have defiled our bodies, when we call on Jesus Christ and ask Him to come into our heart and save us His blood makes us clean, we are no longer soiled, guilty, or defiles from all of our sins. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” - I John 1:9. The second a person calls on Jesus to save you are cleansed from all your sins, you can feel it and your life is never the same, even if you never do anything for Him. Praise God! That is God's gift and something we should all be very grateful of.

Enjoy the rest of your day/night and Happy Valentine's Day.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina

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