If Ever There was a Need for Social Order, it is Now.

Leviticus 19:1-8 – Social Order Basics Part I

[parts of this intro appeared first as a standalone article on LinkedIn March 29, 2020]

Day 11 of our 14-day self-quarantine. I can hardly wait to go out and have the whole neighborhood to myself. It’s almost eerie like the pictures of an empty Times Square in New York City in the middle of the day.  The biggest challenge we have today is to be able to discern the truth from everything that is communicated to us (and that includes what we ourselves communicate to others).  Is the Covid-19 a big thing or will it too pass? Are the One World Government proponents behind this or is it just China or the anti-Trump movement or someone else? Is God trying to reach us one more time or is He just letting it be? Is this a build-up to the so-called end times?

Simply put, I don’t know. We do know this much. We are approaching 33,000 deaths worldwide as I write this (March 29, 2020).  That is more than the number of deaths of SARS, Ebola, and MERS combined. The next milestone (for lack of a better word) is Yellow Fever in the late 1800’s which took between 100 and 150 thousand people, followed by the Swine Flu in 2009/10 which took 200,000. We need to watch the stats.

With respect to who is behind all this, my personal feeling is that while one or more players may have had a negative role in this pandemic, the reality is that most of them are taking advantage of the situation to promote their own agendas. And that they’re prepared to do it in stages, taking what ground they can this time and setting up for the next ‘big thing’ that will help them do so. We need to be aware of that.

Finally, is God trying to reach us through this pandemic?  God is always trying to reach us. He has been doing that since He created the world and put man on it.  He made His ultimate reach 2,000 years ago when He gave His son to die on the cross providing a gift of eternal life to mankind. Some of us have not accepted that gift yet. Many are accepting it now. For them, and in the big scheme of things, the coronavirus pandemic will have been most worth it in the end. There is no virus or disease of any kind in heaven.

If ever there were times for having social order in the world, this is certainly one of them. And with that in mind we turn to our passage of Scripture today.

The Passage

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

² “Speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. ³ Every one of you shall reverence his mother and his father, and you shall keep My sabbaths; I am the Lord your God. ⁴ Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves molten gods; I am the Lord your God.

⁵ ‘Now when you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord, you shall offer it so that you may be accepted. ⁶ It shall be eaten the same day you offer it, and the next day; but what remains until the third day shall be burned with fire. ⁷ So if it is eaten at all on the third day, it is an offense; it will not be accepted. ⁸ Everyone who eats it will bear his iniquity, for he has profaned the holy thing of the Lord; and that person shall be cut off from his people.

Thoughts on the Passage

Here are God’s basic initial requirements for a social order that brings true “peace and security” to people.  This peace and security is NOT what all global and one world government proponents promise (until they have you under their control).  It is internal, it is lasting, and it cannot be taken away.

First, God says we need to be holy. Because He is holy. Simple. And we humans become more holy as we follow His commandments and live by his statutes. I love what David Guzik says about being holy:

The idea behind the word holy is “separate”. As it is applied to God, it describes God’s apartness. It means that God is different than man and from all other beings in the greatness and majesty of His attributes. He has a righteousness unlike any other; a just unlike any other; a purity unlike any other – and love, grace, and mercy unlike any other. . .. Being holy [for us] means being like God, separating ourselves unto Him and His truth - and naturally, separating ourselves from those things that are not like Him and not according to His truth.

And that is what we are to move towards.

Second, social order requires (now think about it) that each one of us “reverence his mother and his father”. Period. My, have we ever screwed this part up. Part of that is our own doing as sometimes we are not the parents God intended us to be; other times it happens because we allow the state or the school system to take over our responsibilities as parents. Sometimes it happens because we allow society (what others are doing or allowing with their kids) to dictate what we do or allow with ours. It’s just so much easier that way, we argue, because we need to focus on so much other stuff these days. Well, I’m sorry, but what your kid does (even as a teenager) should be one of your uppermost priorities.  We can only get “reverence” from our children, if we show them love and provide them with the limits that they need to become the adults God wants them to be.

Guzik says this law is an essential building block for the stability and health of all society. Harrison says, “Reverencing parents is an act of piety towards God, since the parents are substitutes for the heavenly Father as far as their children are concerned."

Third, God says, we are to keep His sabbath. That calls for another period! At this point I don’t care what day of the week is your sabbath, as much as I care that you have a sabbath and adhere to the idea of it being a day of rest – whatever God leads you or shows you or wants you to mean by that. Search the Word about keeping the sabbath and find out. And then in the words of some famous marketer, “just do it.”

Third, in this initial set of criteria for social order, God says to His people, “do not turn to idols or make for yourselves molten gods”.  Well, many of us today may say we don’t do that. Check again. This very thing I am typing on right now may be an idol. So may my phone and the many apps on it. So too that idiot tube I watch periodically. Not to mention that glass container of spirits that we may pour into our bodies. Or porn. I would even go as far as to say that “idleness” – my “free time” can become an idol for us today. Did I mention money? (Are you going crazy because your sales or income is down right now? Maybe this is a time when you need to adhere to this verse – don’t make money your idol.)

Finally, God says, in verses 5 to 8, keep on making your sacrifices (or today your offerings) of service or gifts to the Lord. And do them in the appropriate way, He says. We learned about that earlier in this study from previous chapters. We have been away from our church for four weeks now due to our trip south and then our quarantine. Today, we wrote our check to make up for our inability to contribute to the weekly offerings. This Thursday, when we are released from quarantine, one of us will make that special trip to our church’s mail slot and make that donation. That is tops on our list. Do not forget to continue making your offerings unto the Lord, God says.

In the rest of this chapter, God continues with His “laws” of “social order”.  Boy, do we ever need them now. May you reflect on this as He speaks to your heart this day. Stay tuned for the next installment of this study and feel free to share this one.  God bless you.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.