God's Constant Passion for Justice and Pursuit of Love...

Yesterday, we looked at a section of a letter in the Book of Joshua and discovered the timeless principle that to restart recognizes that God desires justice. God is not just righteous and just. God delights in justice. And God desires justice. And because of that reality, God set up a process in the Promised Land that was designed to promote justice for all. And as this story continues, we see God’s desire for justice in the lives of the Jewish people revealed for us through a second specific action, beginning in Joshua 21:1:

Then the heads of households of the Levites approached Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of households of the tribes of the sons of Israel. They spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, "The LORD commanded through Moses to give us cities to live in, with their pasture lands for our cattle." So the sons of Israel gave the Levites from their inheritance these cities with their pasture lands, according to the command of the LORD.

Here we see the Levites, who were descendants of one of the twelve sons of Jacob who formed the Jewish people, approach Joshua and his leadership team. While one of the twelve sons of Jacob, the Levites were not given a portion of the Promised Land to possess. The Levites developed into three divisions based on the three sons of Levi, Kohath, Merari, and Gershom, which formed what was called the levitical priesthood. We see how God gave the Levites cities within the Promised Land in Joshua 21:4:

Then the lot came out for the families of the Kohathites. And the sons of Aaron the priest, who were of the Levites, received thirteen cities by lot from the tribe of Judah and from the tribe of the Simeonites and from the tribe of Benjamin. The rest of the sons of Kohath received ten cities by lot from the families of the tribe of Ephraim and from the tribe of Dan and from the half-tribe of Manasseh.

As we have discovered in this series, casting lots was a process that was similar to picking names out of a hat. This process, however, was not simply a random act of chance. Since the Jewish people were without the Holy Spirit’s indwelling presence and the Bibles guidance, casting lots was a way that God used to guide and direct the decisions of the Jewish people. The Kohathites were descendants of one of the three sons of Levi that formed the priests and were given special responsibilities that related to the tabernacle, which is where the Ark of the Covenant resided amongst the Jewish people.

As a result of their special responsibilities, the Kohathites were given thirteen cities from the territory of the tribe of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin. The Kohathites who were not a part of the priestly line received ten cities from the tribes of Ephraim, Dan, and the ½ tribe of Manasseh. The descendants of Gershon, who was another of the three sons of Levi, received thirteen cities from the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, which were located in the region of Galilee, and the ½ tribe of Manasseh that was located east of the Jordan River. The descendants of Merari, who was another of the three sons of Levi, received twelve cities from the tribes of Reuben, Gad and from the tribe of Zebulun. And the rest of chapter 21 describes in detail all of the cities that the Levites received throughout the Promised Land. But, this morning, why would God scatter the Levites throughout the Promised Land like He did?

We find the answer to that question in another letter in our Bibles called the book of Numbers. In Numbers 35:2-8, Moses commanded the Jewish people to give the Levites cities scattered throughout the Promised Land, in order to enable them to be able to love, serve, and minister to the Jewish people. In addition, the Levites were responsible to teach and proclaim God’s commands that are recorded for us in the Old Testament to the Jewish people. Thus, the Levites had a prominent role in the establishment and reinforcement of justice in Jewish society and culture.

And because of the unique role that the Levites had in Jewish society and culture, God dispersed them throughout the Promised Land to help promulgate and promote a culture and society of faithfulness and justice. God dispersed them throughout the Promised Land because God delights and desires justice. And as chapter 21 ends, we see a summary of God’s activity in the lives of the Jewish people:

So the LORD gave Israel all the land which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they possessed it and lived in it. And the LORD gave them rest on every side, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers, and no one of all their enemies stood before them; the LORD gave all their enemies into their hand. Not one of the good promises which the LORD had made to the house of Israel failed; all came to pass.

As we have discovered throughout this sermon series, God is a promise maker and God is a promise keeper. And here we see that reality revealed once again. The word swore here literally is a vow or covenant promise that is not to be broken. The question before the Jewish people, was not whether or not God had promised them the land, the only question was whether or not they were going to live their lives in a way that would enable them to receive those promise. And as the Jewish people restarted their lives so that they could live in the relationship with God and one another that they were created and called to live, God fulfilled His promise by giving them three things.

First, God gave them all of the land that He had promised to them. Second, God gave them rest. Now when the Bible uses the word rest, it is referring to the blessings that come from faithfully living in the relationship with God and one another that we were created and called to live. Third, God gave them relief from opposition. None of the enemies of the Jewish people were able to make a stand against them. This story ends with the explanation that not a single word of every word that God promised the Jewish people failed. All of God’s promises came to pass because God is a promise maker and a promise keeper. And God delights and desires justice.

And today, the timeless reality is that to restart recognizes that God desires justice. God so delights and desires justice that some 1400 years after this story, we read another story in the Bible. Another story about God’s desire for justice. This story, however, does not involve a city that provides refuge from retribution that is undeserved. This story involves a man going to a cross to provide rescue from retribution that is deserved.

The Easter story reveals God's desire for justice. And the Easter story reveals God's loving pursuit of His creation through His Son, who lived the life we refused to live and suffered the death we deserved to live to provide the opportunity for forgiveness and rescue. It is the cross the reveals God's justice and love.