God’s Covenant with Levi

This passage deals with the covenant of life and peace that God made with the priests of the tribe of Levi. The priests were called to be messengers who teach God's law rightly and lead the people in purity, but many priests became lazy and corrupt, did not proclaim the truth, and defiled the offerings. God shows fierce anger at the disobedience and corruption of these priests, and emphasises that their lips should keep knowledge and that the people should seek the law at their mouth.

The sermon points out that the priests' failure was not simply a personal matter; it led the whole people to death and brought judgment on the nation. God warns that he will cast them off, as though spreading the dung of the sacrifices on the priests' faces, and sternly rebukes the sin of perverting justice and taking bribes for the sake of power and wealth. These ancient warnings apply just as they stand to pastors entrusted with the Word and to believers today. Believers must not know faith only as knowledge, but live out the six days of the week by faith and offer pure worship.

Believers must stay awake, holding the sword of the Spirit, to guard their souls from the temptations of the world and the smooth talk of heresies. We must not justify our own sin because others sin, or ignore God's law in the name of common practice. God unchangingly keeps his covenant and requires us to live by his word, and he warns us not to live lives that are identified with the corrupt priests. What kind of faith will you choose?