Now, let us pick up the warning found in Leviticus 18:21—“And you shall not let any of your descendants pass through the fire to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God: I am the LORD.” The worship of Molech (or, Moloch) was one of the most savage, most brutal, most depraved and abominable wickednesses to ever come upon the face of the earth. Molech was a god of the Ammonites, and was a part of their worship of the sun. The Ammonites inhabited the land that was known as Canaan, the land which God would deliver His people to. He was depicted as a being having the body of a man and the head of a bull. And when the Ammonites built statues of him, they would construct it so that the arms would be outstretched so it could receive the victim, who would be sacrificed alive. There are many theories about how the sacrifice was carried out. They all, however, include placing a firstborn child in either the arms or belly of this big brass man/bull. The statue was then heated by fire, the child placed in the hands or belly, and drums being played loud enough to drown out the screaming. Some later accounts tell of a statue that was constructed so that when a man was placed inside, the man’s screams would come out sounding like the bellowing of a cow.
Does this sound barbaric? It should. It was. This was one of the various forms of worship adopted by the pagan neighbors of Israel. And while it would be detestable to the physical senses, it appealed to one thing: there was a visible representation. Every pagan society had some sort of representation for their deities. The God of Israel, however, has no shape, nor form. Deuteronomy 4:15-18—“15 Take careful heed to yourselves, for you saw no form when the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, 16 lest you act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of any figure: the likeness of male or female, 17 the likeness of any animal that is on the earth or the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, 18 the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground or the likeness of any fish that is in the water beneath the earth.” As they intermingled with these other nations, it must have become very trying on them, when someone would ask them, “What does your God look like?” and having to say “Our God has no form.” And seeing these temples built to these gods that looked like birds and bulls and fish and so forth, hearing these people scorn them because they worship an “invisible God” (Colossians 1:15). And even as detestable as Molech worship was, they had something they could see and feel and handle.
You may say, “well, how could these people see this barbarism and actually leave the worship of the true God and follow that?” And, again, I must tell you, the fact that this command is in the Law shows that the people were capable of it. Do we need a law that says “don’t murder”? Do we need laws that say “if it ain't yours, keep your hands off it”? Do we need laws to tell us that these things are wrong? The fact that we have them is proof that we need them. Because left on our own, man is a wicked and depraved creature. What other species kills its own over stuff? Over choosing a mate? Over anything besides the fact that the other animal is food? And yet these Israelites, who had seen the mighty hand of God destroy the firstborn of Egypt that they may go free, then open a huge body of water so they could walk on dry land (and then close those waters on her enemy), and give them bread day after day after day after day—still God needed to remind them not to offer their children to be tortured and roasted in a big brass statue of a false pagan ‘god’.
Now, after God commands the people about all these sexual sins, and offering their children to Molech and forbidding homosexuality, he tells them Leviticus 18:23—“Nor shall you mate with any animal, to defile yourself with it. Nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it. It is perversion.” We already covered this in Exodus 22:19, so we won’t cover it again. But I find it not ironic that God places the prohibition against homosexuality in between pagan idolatry and bestiality.
While we’re on these subjects, let’s skip over to Leviticus 20, where we find the penalties for all these abominations. And they all say pretty much the same thing: If you do any of the things listed in Leviticus 18, you will be put to death, or God Himself will strike you down. There are a few verses in chapter 20 we won’t cover here; we’ll get to those when we get there. In the meantime, Leviticus 20:1-5—1 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “2 Again, you shall say to the children of Israel: 'Whoever of the children of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell in Israel, who gives any of his descendants to Molech, he shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones. 3 I will set My face against that man, and will cut him off from his people, because he has given some of his descendants to Molech, to defile My sanctuary and profane My holy name. 4 And if the people of the land should in any way hide their eyes from the man, when he gives some of his descendants to Molech, and they do not kill him, 5 then I will set My face against that man and against his family; and I will cut him off from his people, and all who prostitute themselves with him to commit harlotry with Molech.” Not only will the worshipper of Molech be stoned with stones, but if you know that person is worshipping Molech, and you don’t stone him—God will get you Himself. But what do we have today in some churches—or, rather, those groups that call themselves a ‘church’? Tolerance. Pacifism. Passiveness. Fear of calling sin ‘sin’. They don’t want to offend anyone, so when someone comes along with some harebrained idea about God, they are all too quick to say, “Oh, sure, if that’s what you believe, great! We’re open minded! In fact, we’re so open-minded our brains are leaking out!” Well, they won’t say that last one.
That kind of thing has been going on since the giving of the Law; it was going on in the days of the early church. What was the assessment Paul made of the Corinthians? 2nd Corinthians 11:18-19—18 Seeing that many boast according to the flesh, I also will boast. 19 For you put up with fools gladly, since you yourselves are wise! I like how the KJV says it, ye suffer fools gladly! The Corinthians weren’t always swift about putting out those who were preaching falsely. If they were, then Paul could have stopped with 1st Corinthians. Time and time again, the New Testament writers tell us to put sin away from us; put leaven away from us; be wise as serpents; walk circumspectly, and so on and so forth. Because if we let sin in the door of the church; if we do not put out the doctrines of devils, then that leaven will fester and devour the church. And in fact, even the last book of the Bible talks about this kind of thing. Jesus tells John to write the following to the church at Pergamos, Revelation 2:13-16—“13 I know your works, and where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. And you hold fast to My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days in which Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. 14 But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality. 15 Thus you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. 16 Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth.” Jesus says the same thing here that either He or the Father said in Leviticus 20. Either get rid of the cancer, or God will do it Himself.
Leviticus 20:10-21—“‘10 The man who commits adultery with another man's wife, he who commits adultery with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress, shall surely be put to death. 11 The man who lies with his father's wife has uncovered his father's nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them. 12 If a man lies with his daughter-in-law…13 If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman …14 If a man marries a woman and her mother…15 If a man mates with an animal…16 If a woman approaches any animal and mates with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal…17 If a man takes his sister, his father's daughter or his mother's daughter, and sees her nakedness and she sees his nakedness, it is a wicked thing…18 If a man lies with a woman during her sickness and uncovers her nakedness, he has exposed her flow, and she has uncovered the flow of her blood…19 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother's sister nor of your father's sister, for that would uncover his near of kin. They shall bear their guilt. 20 If a man lies with his uncle's wife, he has uncovered his uncle's nakedness…21 If a man takes his brother's wife, it is an unclean thing. He has uncovered his brother's nakedness. They shall be childless.’” I’ve shortened these verses quite a bit, because the penalties for these things is either (a) they shall be put to death, or (b) they shall be put to death. If you sleep with your aunt or uncle or your brother’s wife, you die childless. Period. Paragraph. No loopholes. No “Well, I know you two were in a loving, monogamous relationship between two consenting adults. So I’ll go ahead and let you off the hook.” Under none of these conditions can you make an emotional appeal to God. He said it; it’s written down; you know it. Do it—and die.
Leviticus 20:22-26—“‘22 You shall therefore keep all My statutes and all My judgments, and perform them, that the land where I am bringing you to dwell may not vomit you out. 23 And you shall not walk in the statutes of the nation which I am casting out before you; for they commit all these things, and therefore I abhor them. 24 But I have said to you, "You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey." I am the LORD your God, who has separated you from the peoples. 25 You shall therefore distinguish between clean animals and unclean, between unclean birds and clean, and you shall not make yourselves abominable by beast or by bird, or by any kind of living thing that creeps on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean. 26 And you shall be holy to Me, for I the LORD am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine.’” Does creation have any problem obeying God? When God tells the wind to blow, does it blow? When God tells the rain to fall, does it fall? Job 38:8-13—“8 Or who shut in the sea with doors, when it burst forth and issued from the womb; 9 when I made the clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band; 10 when I fixed My limit for it, and set bars and doors; 11 when I said, ' This far you may come, but no farther, and here your proud waves must stop!' 12 Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place, 13 that it might take hold of the ends of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it?” Every day, the earth turns in its place; every single moment of time the stars give their light; every few hours the tides rise and fall. Jesus said that even the rocks would shout if His people were silent (Luke 19:40). Paul said that all of creation is awaiting the day when it will no longer be subject to the curse of sin (Romans 8:22). The whole earth, in that moment after its Redeemer breathed out His last breath on the cross, trembled because of Him (Matthew 27:51).
All of creation goes along as it should. If you asked one hundred people, “Does nature always do what it should?” you would probably get just as many people saying “No” as you would get saying “Yes.” And why is that? Well, it depends on whose perspective they're using. From man’s perspective, no, nature doesn't always behave the way we want it to. Whenever a hurricane or earthquake or tsunami strikes, so many people say something like “This is nature gone wrong!” No, that is nature doing what it was supposed to do. It was doing what God told it to do. But who is it that rebuked the winds and waves? Who commanded a flood to destroy every person but eight?
Even animals know to obey the voice of God. When God was about to bring the flood, and He sent Noah to gather the animals, did Noah have to go chasing the cats from up in a tree? Did he have to keep the lions from tearing the zebras apart? No. Genesis 7:13-15—13 On the very same day Noah and Noah's sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah's wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark—14 they and every beast after its kind, all cattle after their kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort. 15 And they went into the ark to Noah, two by two, of all flesh in which is the breath of life. When they tested Jesus about the temple tax, and our Lord told Peter to cast a line into the sea and pull out a fish—that fish swam to the line, and allowed itself to be caught. Matthew 17:24-27—24 When they had come to Capernaum, those who received the temple tax came to Peter and said, "Does your Teacher not pay the temple tax?" 25 He said, "Yes." And when he had come into the house, Jesus anticipated him, saying, "What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth take customs or taxes, from their sons or from strangers?" 26 Peter said to Him, "From strangers." Jesus said to him, "Then the sons are free. 27 Nevertheless, lest we offend them, go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first. And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money; take that and give it to them for Me and you." Jesus warned Peter that he would deny the Lord three times before the rooster would crow twice. And right on cue, the rooster crowed. Mark 14:72—A second time the rooster crowed. Then Peter called to mind the word that Jesus had said to him, "Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times." And when he thought about it, he wept. When God wanted Jonah to go to Nineveh, and the reluctant prophet hopped a ship headed for Tarshish, God had a whale waiting to catch him when his fellow passengers tossed him into the drink. Jonah 1:17—Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. You get the idea. And we have a passage that ties this whole principle together, in Isaiah 1:3—“The ox knows its owner and the donkey its master's crib…”
BUT “…But Israel does not know, My people do not consider.” But we humans are a stubborn bunch. We know who God is…but we also think we know who should be God. We know that if we ran things, they’d go a whole lot smoother. We have such an iron-clad grasp on what needs to be done that if God would just get out of the way, this world would be a whole lot better. OK, that’s enough sarcasm for the time being. We humans couldn’t run things better. We only think we could. And isn't that the root of sin? Wasn’t that one of the very first lies ever told? “You shall be like God” (Genesis 3:5). And how did Satan know what to use in tempting our first parents? “He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it” (John 8:44). For we know that Satan was the most prideful of all creatures, one who was so arrogant and full of self-love that he could overpower the Almighty Sovereign. Isaiah 14:12-14—“12 How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! 13 For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’” Five times the Accuser of the Brethren tells God what he will do—and yet with one word, God could have sent him and his minions to the deepest depths of Gehenna. Yet he didn’t. Instead, He cast him down to earth, knowing that he would cause chaos and ruin among the sons of Adam.
And now, it is not only Lucifer, Son of the Morning, who spends his days declaring “I will…I will…I will…” For even from the day we draw our first breath upon exiting the womb, do we not also spend all our days declaring “I will…I will…I will…”? And is this not presumptuous on our part? We set out to go to the store which is just around the corner and what do we tell our loved one? “I’ll be right back.” Yet do we even know we will return? Though it may be five minutes each way, are we really guaranteed a safe passage to and fro? We may think in our heart (and with no malice aforethought) “Surely, it is just a short trip. I know the route, there is seldom if ever any traffic on this route at this time of day. The sun is shining, the roads are clear. What could possibly happen?” Well, plenty could happen. As long as there are two vehicle traveling on the same stretch of road, anything can happen. Now, we may not think we are being pretentious when we say “I’ll be right back”, but we are, indeed, making an assumption that nothing untoward will happen to us. But it is God who appoints the extent of our days, and if it is the end of our time here on earth, then nothing will stay the hour. James 4:13-15—13 Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit"; 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. 15 Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that." Or, instead of “I’ll be right back” we could say, “I should be back soon.” For we do not know what will happen even five minutes from now.
Why do I say all this? What does this have to do with the people of Israel and God’s commands, and His warnings about them keeping His commands? Let’s read the last few verses of Leviticus 18 and we’ll see what all this means. Leviticus 18:24-30—“‘24 Do not defile yourselves with any of these things; for by all these the nations are defiled, which I am casting out before you. 25 For the land is defiled; therefore I visit the punishment of its iniquity upon it, and the land vomits out its inhabitants. 26 You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations, either any of your own nation or any stranger who dwells among you 27 (for all these abominations the men of the land have done, who were before you, and thus the land is defiled), 28 lest the land vomit you out also when you defile it, as it vomited out the nations that were before you. 29 For whoever commits any of these abominations, the persons who commit them shall be cut off from among their people. 30 Therefore you shall keep My ordinance, so that you do not commit any of these abominable customs which were committed before you, and that you do not defile yourselves by them: I am the LORD your God.’” All creation knows that God is god. All creation is subject to God, and moves and acts as it is directed by God. Yet consider man, the crown of God’s creation, endowed with abilities far above those of any other part of creation. Man, of whom God said his creation was not simply “good” but “very good” (Genesis 1:31). Man, of whom the Psalmist said, Psalm 8:4-8—4 What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? 5 For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, 7 all sheep and oxen—even the beasts of the field, 8 the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the seas. This same Man whom God ordained should be the watcher over all of His creatures, this Man whose intelligence is far superior to the beasts—and yet this same Man is more quickly able to forget His God than the beasts of the field or even the rocks in the wilderness.
Is this not absurd? How is it that Man is, in certain respects, dumber than a rock? Look at the warning God gives the people: He says if you forget Me, the land will cast you out. Think about it! In one breath, He says “You people will forget all the good I have done for you. And when you do, the land—the sand, the rocks, the mountains, the grass, the fields; all these things which are dumb and unintelligent, and have no ability to think or speak or move or do anything but grow and exist—these dumb things will obey Me more than you will.” Not just “I will drive you from the land” but “The land will spew you out.” Just as the rains obeyed and covered the earth; just as the Red Sea obeyed and stacked itself on top of itself; just as the wind and waves ceased their tumult with a word from our Lord; just as the rooster crowed when Peter denied his Lord thrice—so the land itself would obey the will of its Maker and thrust out the proud, stiff-necked, rebellious children of Israel for following after the ways of their heathenish neighbors. The land—the mute, unmoving, unthinking, unintelligent rocks and sand would do what these people with all their intellect could not do.
Now, if you are still a rebel; if you still think that you are above reproach; if you think that you have obtained righteousness by your own merit—are you still feeling good about yourself? If you are, then the force of God’s warning has not yet hit home for you. Because you and I are not that much different from the Israelites. You and I are just as fallen and sinful and wretched and vile as those to whom God gave these warnings. You and I are not above forgetting our God; you and I are not above relying on our own fleshly wisdom to guide us; you and I are just as likely to fall flat on our face as these disobedient children of the old covenant. And when we fall, be sure that God will see and, if He is gracious, will open our eyes to see the folly of our thinking. The writer of Hebrews, in quoting a passage of the Law (Deuteronomy 8:5), tells us that even now, under the new covenant, God corrects us so that we may see the errors we commit. Hebrews 12:5-6—5 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: "My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; 6 for whom the LORD loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives." Have you disobeyed your father in Heaven? Has he chastened you and scourged you, that you may remember your transgression and not repeat it? Then rejoice, for He truly is your Father in Heaven. But, if you have disobeyed His voice, and He has not laid stripes upon your back, be wary—for if He has not punished you, then you perhaps do not belong to Him.
But if the Holy Spirit lays upon your conscience the weight of your sins, then be glad—for this is the first step to being reconciled to god. For even as God brought to mind the weight of the Israelites’ sins by driving them out of the land, time and again, that they may remember the covenant He made with their fathers, so He will bring to your mind the weight of your sins against Him, that he may purify you by the blood of the new covenant which Christ Jesus shed for you—if you will indeed hear His voice and run to Him for shelter. Psalm 95:6-11—6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD our Maker. 7 For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you will hear His voice: 8 "Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, as in the day of trial in the wilderness, 9 when your fathers tested Me; they tried Me, though they saw My work. 10 For forty years I was grieved with that generation, and said, 'It is a people who go astray in their hearts, and they do not know My ways.' 11 So I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest.'" Those who did not believe did not enter the rest of YHVH. This is a true and faithful saying even today. For the writer of Hebrews—who was, in fact, a Hebrew writing to Hebrews—repeats this warning even for us who are under, not an old covenant based on the works of the Law, but under the new covenant, based on better promises (Hebrews 8:6), when he tells us in Hebrews 3:12-15—12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; 13 but exhort one another daily, while it is called "Today," lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, 15 while it is said: "Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion."
Do not harden your heart. Do not be too smart for your own good. Turn away from your vile human works, done to earn a righteousness you cannot earn. Do not be led astray by those who say you must “do this and do that” in order to boast of your works (Ephesians 2:9). But know the grace of our God and Father; ask god to open your eyes to the grace of our God and savior Jesus Christ; and when the Holy Spirit of God lays on your conscience the weight of your rebellion against God, do not be as those in the wilderness who turned away from the living God and were spewed out by the land. Rather, cling to Christ; know that your works will not make you righteous, but will rather bear witness against you, that although you heard the truth of grace in Christ, you rested your hope of salvation in yourself and your own so-called “goodness” and your own self-“righteousness.” It was this righteousness which the scribes and Pharisees possessed, and which Jesus said your righteousness must exceed. Therefore, seek the righteousness which is not of the Law, but which is of Christ by faith. Do not be puffed up with your own wisdom, but humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, lest you harden your heart and be found wanting and rejected at His coming.
Jesus Christ is Lord.
Amen.
