Feb 22, 2024
LEVITICUS 3-4:
Yesterday we heard about burnt offerings and
grain offerings.
Andrew Bonar states about
Leviticus:
“There is no book in the whole compass of that
inspired Volume which the Holy Spirit has given us, that contains
more of the very words of God than Leviticus. It is God that is the
direct speaker in almost every page; His gracious words are
recorded in the form wherein they were uttered.”
Note this in our reading in Leviticus today: By and large, the sacrificial system was set up to forgive unintentional sins. (Some small exceptions will be noted in tomorrow’s reading in Leviticus.) It is good to draw a distinction— as the book of Hebrews does, between unintentional and intentional sins. Each of us should feel uncomfortable, because each of us can look back and remember sins we committed intentionally. Let us make the firm commitment to never trample upon our Savior’s kindness by sinning intentionally. But we can praise the Lord for this verse spoken by Paul in Acts 13:38-39:
“Therefore let it be known to you, brothers [and sisters//0], that through this one forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by this one everyone who believes is justified from everything from which the law of Moses could not justify you.” (NET)
PSALM 11:
This
is a song of trust in the Lord.
LUKE 8b:
Yesterday we read the parable of the sower, or
different kinds of soil. Jesus taught about the importance of
hearing and doing what is in God's Word, and that was echoed again
when his mother and brothers came to see him.
NLT Translation
notes:
Luk. 8:7
Other seed fell among thorns that grew up [with the
tender young plants and choked them out.//it and choked out the
tender plants.] 8 Still
other seed fell on fertile soil. This seed grew and produced a crop
that was a hundred times as much as had been planted!” When he had
said this, he called out, [“You people have ears to
hear with, don't you?! Well then, listen and understand!”//Anyone
with ears to hear should listen and
understand.]
[Seed is a
collective noun, therefore plural!]
9 His disciples asked him what this parable
meant. 10 He replied, “You are permitted to understand the secrets
a of the Kingdom of God. But I use parables to teach the others so
that the Scriptures might be fulfilled [where God
said//0]:
‘When they look, they won’t really
see.
When they hear, they
won’t understand.’
25
Then he asked them, “[Whatever happened to the idea
of your believing in Me?!”//Where is your
faith?]
The disciples
were terrified and amazed. “[What kind of man is
this?!//Who is this man?]”
they asked each other.
“When he gives a command, even the wind and
waves obey him!”
30 Jesus
demanded, “What is your name?”
“[Batalion/Legion],”
he replied, for he was filled with many
demons.
32 There happened
to be a large herd of pigs feeding on the hillside nearby, and the
demons begged him to let them enter into the
pigs.
[0/So] Jesus gave them
permission.
[The Greek
‘kai’ (and) is frequently left untranslated on purpose. I
definitely don't like the addition of a 'So' logical connector
here.]
34 When the
herdsmen saw [what
happened//it], they fled
to the nearby town and the surrounding countryside, spreading the
news as they ran.
35
People rushed out to see what had happened. A crowd soon gathered
around Jesus, and they saw the man who had been freed from the
demons. He was sitting at Jesus’ feet, fully clothed and perfectly
sane, and they [all became afraid//were
afraid].
48
“[0//Daughter],” he said to her, “[You are now
healed because you believe fully in Me.//your faith has made you
well.] Go in
peace.”
[Jesus does call
her 'daughter' in Greek. But people can often get the wrong
impression from that. One common wrong implication would be that
this woman was younger than Jesus. If the translator changes to
something like 'woman', then there are other problems with wrong
implications. Other options I have thought of sound unnatural. For
naturalness sake, it sounds best and most natural to me to just
leave the word out.]
50
But when Jesus heard what had happened, he said to Jairus, “Don’t
be afraid. [Just keep believing fully in Me//Just
have faith], and she will
be healed.”
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.