Getting to Know God
Living as God's Royal Priesthood: Understanding the Heart Behind the Law
The ancient Hebrew word "Mishpatim" means "judgments," and it marks a pivotal transition in the story of God's people. After the dramatic narratives of creation, the flood, the patriarchs, and the exodus from Egypt, something shifts. The people standing at the base of Mount Sinai needed more than stories—they needed structure, guidance, and a framework for living as the holy nation God called them to be.
Called to Be Priests in the World
What does it mean to be a "kingdom of priests"? This calling extends far beyond religious ceremony. A priest serves as a bridge between God and humanity, facilitating divine encounters and making God known. The Temple priests would receive offerings from the people, prepare them according to divine instruction, and present them before the Lord. But God's vision was always bigger than a single tribe performing rituals.
The Abrahamic Covenant promised that his descendants would become a light to the nations. This wasn't about hoarding spiritual blessings but about radiating God's presence to a world desperately in need of knowing Him. Peter later affirmed that through the Holy Spirit, believers have inherited this calling—we are now a royal priesthood, commissioned to bring the knowledge of God and the light of Messiah into every corner of creation.
Salvation is never meant to be passive. It's not simply about securing a heavenly destination and waiting for eternity to begin. God expects His people to actively serve, to engage, to shine. We serve not out of obligation but out of love—a response to the overwhelming grace shown to us while we were still far from Him.
The Gift of Divine Clarity
The mishpatim—over fifty specific teachings laid out in Exodus—represent something revolutionary: God making His expectations clear. There's no hidden agenda, no secret knowledge reserved for an elite few. Everything is spread out, explained, accessible.
Consider this practical example from Exodus 21: "If people quarrel, and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist, and the other does not die but lies in bed, if he rises again and walks around on his staff, then the one that struck him will be cleared. But he must pay for the loss of his time and help him to be thoroughly healed."
This isn't abstract theology—it's concrete guidance for real-life conflict. The injured party deserves compensation for lost wages and medical care. Justice is restorative, practical, and fair.
The Radical Equality of Divine Law
What made biblical law unique in the ancient world was its leveling effect. Your social status, wealth, or influence didn't determine how you were treated under God's covenant. Rich and poor stood on equal ground. The powerful couldn't buy favorable treatment, and the vulnerable weren't abandoned to injustice.
Exodus 23 warns against both following the crowd into evil and showing partiality to either the wealthy or the poor. "Do not spread a false report. Do not join hands with the wicked by becoming a malicious witness. Do not follow a crowd to do evil."
These ancient words speak powerfully to our current age of social media, where mob mentality can convict people in the court of public opinion without evidence, where misinformation spreads faster than truth, and where the loudest voices often drown out wisdom.
The principle is clear: truth matters more than popularity. Justice matters more than convenience. God's standards don't bend to accommodate majority opinion or cultural trends.
The Danger of Covenant Breaking
The reading from Jeremiah 34 provides a sobering illustration of what happens when God's people make commitments they don't keep. King Zedekiah and the people entered into a covenant to release their Hebrew servants according to the law—every seventh year, indentured servants were to go free. Initially, they obeyed. But then they changed their minds and forced the freed servants back into bondage.
God's response was fierce: "You have not obeyed Me, to proclaim liberty, everyone to his brother and everyone to his neighbor. Behold, I proclaim for you a liberty to the sword, to plague and to famine!"
The issue wasn't merely technical non-compliance with a regulation. The deeper problem was what their actions revealed about their hearts. They didn't truly care about God's values or the people they were oppressing. Their covenant breaking exposed a fundamental disconnect between their words and their hearts, between their religious identity and their actual character.
Love as the Foundation
Understanding God's commandments, judgments, and statutes isn't about legalistic rule-keeping. It's about relationship. Every instruction reveals something about who God is—His character, His values, His heart. When we engage with Scripture this way, we're not checking boxes; we're getting to know our Creator more deeply.
As Deuteronomy reminds us, God's ways are not too difficult or too distant. They're accessible, reasonable, and ultimately freeing. When we grasp the underlying principles—love God with everything you are, and love your neighbor as yourself—the specific applications begin to make sense. We start seeing the world the way God sees it.
The psalmist wrote, "Your word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against You." This isn't about memorizing rules to avoid punishment. It's about internalizing God's perspective so thoroughly that righteousness becomes natural, a reflection of transformed character rather than external compliance.
The Heart of the Matter
When we choose to ignore or dismiss God's instructions, we're communicating something profound: "God, I don't care about You." That's an uncomfortable truth, but it's worth examining honestly. Each of us must ask: Do I genuinely want to make God central to everything I do? Not in an empty, religious way, but in a deeply relational way?
The majority—even among those who claim faith—might say it doesn't matter whether we take all of Scripture seriously. But it does matter. It matters deeply to God, and it should matter to us if we truly love Him.
God called out a people for Himself, made promises to redeem them, and opened the door for anyone from any nation to come to Him. Why? Simply because He loves His creation. The least we can do is love Him back through joyful, heartfelt obedience to our loving King.
Living as God's royal priesthood means allowing His word to shape our worldview, our relationships, and our daily decisions. It means being people who make God known not just through our words but through lives that reflect His justice, mercy, and truth.
The ancient Hebrew word "Mishpatim" means "judgments," and it marks a pivotal transition in the story of God's people. After the dramatic narratives of creation, the flood, the patriarchs, and the exodus from Egypt, something shifts. The people standing at the base of Mount Sinai needed more than stories—they needed structure, guidance, and a framework for living as the holy nation God called them to be.
Called to Be Priests in the World
What does it mean to be a "kingdom of priests"? This calling extends far beyond religious ceremony. A priest serves as a bridge between God and humanity, facilitating divine encounters and making God known. The Temple priests would receive offerings from the people, prepare them according to divine instruction, and present them before the Lord. But God's vision was always bigger than a single tribe performing rituals.
The Abrahamic Covenant promised that his descendants would become a light to the nations. This wasn't about hoarding spiritual blessings but about radiating God's presence to a world desperately in need of knowing Him. Peter later affirmed that through the Holy Spirit, believers have inherited this calling—we are now a royal priesthood, commissioned to bring the knowledge of God and the light of Messiah into every corner of creation.
Salvation is never meant to be passive. It's not simply about securing a heavenly destination and waiting for eternity to begin. God expects His people to actively serve, to engage, to shine. We serve not out of obligation but out of love—a response to the overwhelming grace shown to us while we were still far from Him.
The Gift of Divine Clarity
The mishpatim—over fifty specific teachings laid out in Exodus—represent something revolutionary: God making His expectations clear. There's no hidden agenda, no secret knowledge reserved for an elite few. Everything is spread out, explained, accessible.
Consider this practical example from Exodus 21: "If people quarrel, and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist, and the other does not die but lies in bed, if he rises again and walks around on his staff, then the one that struck him will be cleared. But he must pay for the loss of his time and help him to be thoroughly healed."
This isn't abstract theology—it's concrete guidance for real-life conflict. The injured party deserves compensation for lost wages and medical care. Justice is restorative, practical, and fair.
The Radical Equality of Divine Law
What made biblical law unique in the ancient world was its leveling effect. Your social status, wealth, or influence didn't determine how you were treated under God's covenant. Rich and poor stood on equal ground. The powerful couldn't buy favorable treatment, and the vulnerable weren't abandoned to injustice.
Exodus 23 warns against both following the crowd into evil and showing partiality to either the wealthy or the poor. "Do not spread a false report. Do not join hands with the wicked by becoming a malicious witness. Do not follow a crowd to do evil."
These ancient words speak powerfully to our current age of social media, where mob mentality can convict people in the court of public opinion without evidence, where misinformation spreads faster than truth, and where the loudest voices often drown out wisdom.
The principle is clear: truth matters more than popularity. Justice matters more than convenience. God's standards don't bend to accommodate majority opinion or cultural trends.
The Danger of Covenant Breaking
The reading from Jeremiah 34 provides a sobering illustration of what happens when God's people make commitments they don't keep. King Zedekiah and the people entered into a covenant to release their Hebrew servants according to the law—every seventh year, indentured servants were to go free. Initially, they obeyed. But then they changed their minds and forced the freed servants back into bondage.
God's response was fierce: "You have not obeyed Me, to proclaim liberty, everyone to his brother and everyone to his neighbor. Behold, I proclaim for you a liberty to the sword, to plague and to famine!"
The issue wasn't merely technical non-compliance with a regulation. The deeper problem was what their actions revealed about their hearts. They didn't truly care about God's values or the people they were oppressing. Their covenant breaking exposed a fundamental disconnect between their words and their hearts, between their religious identity and their actual character.
Love as the Foundation
Understanding God's commandments, judgments, and statutes isn't about legalistic rule-keeping. It's about relationship. Every instruction reveals something about who God is—His character, His values, His heart. When we engage with Scripture this way, we're not checking boxes; we're getting to know our Creator more deeply.
As Deuteronomy reminds us, God's ways are not too difficult or too distant. They're accessible, reasonable, and ultimately freeing. When we grasp the underlying principles—love God with everything you are, and love your neighbor as yourself—the specific applications begin to make sense. We start seeing the world the way God sees it.
The psalmist wrote, "Your word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against You." This isn't about memorizing rules to avoid punishment. It's about internalizing God's perspective so thoroughly that righteousness becomes natural, a reflection of transformed character rather than external compliance.
The Heart of the Matter
When we choose to ignore or dismiss God's instructions, we're communicating something profound: "God, I don't care about You." That's an uncomfortable truth, but it's worth examining honestly. Each of us must ask: Do I genuinely want to make God central to everything I do? Not in an empty, religious way, but in a deeply relational way?
The majority—even among those who claim faith—might say it doesn't matter whether we take all of Scripture seriously. But it does matter. It matters deeply to God, and it should matter to us if we truly love Him.
God called out a people for Himself, made promises to redeem them, and opened the door for anyone from any nation to come to Him. Why? Simply because He loves His creation. The least we can do is love Him back through joyful, heartfelt obedience to our loving King.
Living as God's royal priesthood means allowing His word to shape our worldview, our relationships, and our daily decisions. It means being people who make God known not just through our words but through lives that reflect His justice, mercy, and truth.
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