SEPARATED TO GOD 

LEV.  20: 22-26 

          In Bible study on Thursday we talked about the creation and fall of mankind.  We showed how God had given Adam dominion of the earth and Adam surrendered that dominion to the Devil by submitting to him in sin.  Since the fall of man, God has sought ways on this earth to preserve for Himself a people.  For it is through people, that God must show Himself to be the loving creator and Father that He is.  In other words, If God wants mankind to know and understand His love for us, and His requirements of us, He must have people through whom He can demonstrate these things. 

          In the early history of man, when man became so wicked that no one was listening to God, God found Noah.  The Bible teaches that Noah was righteous, trying to do right.  He preached for 100 years trying to get the people to listen to God, but none would listen.  So God destroyed them all and started over again using Noah and his family. 

          As time went on and God again saw man becoming more and more wicked, He sought another through whom He could preserve a people for Himself.  This time He found Abraham.  Now God did not choose Abraham because he was righteous.  Abraham was from country and family of idol worshipers.  Just like those around him, Abraham was unrighteous, but God knew that Abraham would listen to Him and follow Him.  It is through this Abraham that God would preserve a people for himself throughout the remaining generations of mankind.

          It is to the descendents of Abraham, the children of Israel, that God is now talking.  He has delivered them from the bondage of Egypt and is now preparing to take them into the land He had promised Abraham He would give them.  But before giving them the land, God stopped them out in the wilderness to give them instructions.  He wanted them to know what He expected of them and what they could expect from Him in return.  He made a covenant with them, and promised to uphold his part of the covenant as long as they did their part. 

          Here in Lev. 20 He says to them “you shall remember to obey all my laws and follow all my rules.  You can not do like the people who are currently in the land.  I am your God, and I have set you apart from these other people.”  God’s intent again, is to have a people through whom He can show the world His requirements and His blessings.  With this in mind, God says to Israel, “you must make a difference between clean and unclean”.  In other words, you must reflect a standard.  The nations around you must be able to see a difference in your actions and their actions.  God says to them, “Since I ham Holy, you must be Holy.  So I have set you apart as mine.”   

Deut. 4:5-8

          Moses again reminds the people of purpose for which God has chosen them.  He says, “Keep God’s laws, so that the people around us will recognize that there is a difference between us and them.  They will see that the standards by which we live cause God to be with us and that he answers our call.”  Israel was to be the mirror through which God would reflect Himself to the world. 

Deut. 7:1-6

          God drove out the heathen from the promise land and told the Children of Israel not to intermarry with those remaining in the land.  Why?  He said continued relationship with these ungodly people will cause you to turn your back on me and begin to serve their gods.  In Deut 9:4-5 God tell the Children of Israel that it was not because they were so righteous that He drove the heathens out of the promise land, but rather it is because the heathens were so wicked.  He did not want their wickedness to rub off on His people.  He wanted to separate them from the wickedness of the heathens so that He could give birth to a people that reflected Him, people who were holy and upright and who could carry his standard to the world. 

Deut. 14:2

God wanted Israel to be a different kind of people, set apart for Himself, reflecting Him, so that He would have a voice in the wicked world.   All this means that God was saying to them, “You can not go into this new land that is filled with those who don’t know me and act as they do.  You can not worship idols as they do, or eat as they do, or marry into their families.  You must reflect me.  Therefore you can not worship as they do, act as they do or even think as they do.  You are mine and I have chosen you to be a peculiar people, to show forth my glory in the earth. 

Eph. 1:3-5

          Speaking to the Christians at Ephesus, Paul explains to them that before the foundation of the world God chose us in Him.  Who is the us?  All who will choose to accept God’s plan of salvation, become a part of the us and he has predetermined certain things for us.  He has chosen that we should live holy and without blame before him.  This is His will.  Do we always do His will? No, but that does not change His will. 

I Peter 2:9-10

The Christian has now become the chosen of God:  the people who are to demonstrate to the world the glory of God.  We are described here in  the same way as Israel was described in the Old Testament.  We are a peculiar people, intended to show forth the praises and glory of God.  Why?  So that men and women who do not know God will desire to come to know Him.  We are the voice of God in the earth today. 

But his time God did not drive out all the sinners who are around us.  He has left us here in the midst of those who need to know Him. 

JOHN 17:1, 13-20

          Jesus prayed for us.  Not that God would take us out of the world, for He sends us into the world to minister for Him.  His pray is that God would keep us from evil.  In other words, since we have to remain here surrounded by evil, He prays that the evil will not overtake us.

I COR 5:9-11 

II COR. 6:17