" I am the Lord who sanctifies them "

Leviticus 21:16-24 from the One Year Bible daily reading (link available on links page)

Regulations concerning priests

¹⁶ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁷ “Speak to Aaron, saying, ‘No man of your offspring throughout their generations who has a defect shall approach to offer the food of his God. ¹⁸ For no one who has a defect shall approach: a blind man, or a lame man, or he who has a disfigured face, or any deformed limb, ¹⁹ or a man who has a broken foot or broken hand, ²⁰ or a hunchback or a dwarf, or one who has a defect in his eye or eczema or scabs or crushed testicles. ²¹ No man among the descendants of Aaron the priest who has a defect is to come near to offer the Lord’s offerings by fire; since he has a defect, he shall not come near to offer the food of his God. ²² He may eat the food of his God, both of the most holy and of the holy, ²³ only he shall not go in to the veil or come near the altar because he has a defect, so that he will not profane My sanctuaries. For I am the Lord who sanctifies them.’” ²⁴ So Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons and to all the sons of Israel.

I have intententionally avoided reflecting on most of the texts from Leviticus because of the detail of all the regulations. In all there are 613 Levitical laws described in scripture. These laws and regulations concerned everything from what to eat, relationships, health to worship and sacrifices to God. Thankfully we have in Christ the fulfillment of the law. We come to God the Father through Jesus by His sacrifice.     Romans 8:3-4 says :

³ For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 

In the brief portion of today's text above however, I believe there is a critical truth for us to understand and apply in our lives. Before we get to that let's remember what God said to Moses when Moses asked to see God's glory.      Exodus 33:18-23

 Then Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory!” ¹⁹ And He said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.” ²⁰ But He said, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!” ²¹ Then the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; ²² and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. ²³ Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen.”  

No man can see Me and live. It was because of the inherent sin nature of man that no man, not even one as righteous as Moses could see God's face. When Jesus completed the work of the cross, being the sinless sacrifice for the sin of all, that changed.   50And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. 51And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split.(Matthew 27:50-51) What did Jesus cry out?  He said, "It is finished!" And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.(John 19:30)

  All that Jesus had come to do was finished. The work of redemption of sinful man to the Holy God was complete. The veil of the temple be torn signifies that there is no longer a separation between man and God. In Christ, through the finished work of the cross we are now seen as righteous in Christ. God has both forgiven and forgotten our sin. Hebrews 4:16 says:

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.        Because of the finished work of the cross, we can boldly into God's presence. Sin no longer separates us.

Now let's look at today's text.   “Speak to Aaron, saying, ‘No man of your offspring throughout their generations who has a defect shall approach to offer the food of his God. ¹⁸ For no one who has a defect shall approach: a blind man, or a lame man, or he who has a disfigured face, or any deformed limb, ¹⁹ or a man who has a broken foot or broken hand, ²⁰ or a hunchback or a dwarf, or one who has a defect in his eye or eczema or scabs or crushed testicles. ²¹ No man among the descendants of Aaron the priest who has a defect is to come near to offer the Lord’s offerings by fire; since he has a defect, he shall not come near to offer the food of his God.

We see then that not only did sin keep man from the presence of God but sickness, disease and deformity as well. Those with these conditions were not permiited to go within the veil.  God is eternal and unchanging. He does not function within the same finite time constraints which we do.  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.(Hebrews 13:8)   There is probably no one who believes that there is sickness, blindness or any form of disease or deformity in heaven. There will be no need for cancer treatments, no dialysis, no wheel chairs. In heaven there is no autism, there is no alzheimer's. There is no addiction or any of the sicknesses and diseases that are present in our world. Those things can not be in the presence of the Most Holy God of heaven.

So here is the good news for us. Isaiah speaking prophetically about Jesus in Isaiah 53:5 says :

But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.  

By His stripes we are healed. The finished work of the cross was not only for redemption, to take away our sin, but also for restoration, to restore everything that the curse of sin had brought into this world. It is finished. We can come boldly into the presence of God because of the finished work of the cross. If there is no sickness or disease in heaven then it means that when God see us in Christ, He sees us as whole, healed, restored. The work is finished it is already done and complete in heaven. When we see a miracle of healing, we see this earthly realm aligning with what is already complete in heaven. There is healing in the presence of God. No sin and no sickness can be there. When we worship God, when we come into His presence there is healing and wholeness. Should we not then make the presence of God our dwelling place?  Shouldn't we abide there, not merely visiting from time to time?

It is finished! Thank You Jesus for Your finished work. In You there is now, NO sin or sickness that can separate us or those we love from God. It is finished and complete in heaven. May we truly see Your kingdom come and Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.   Amen