Take me tonight to the book of
Malachi, Malachi chapter two, and I'd like to read verses four,
five, six, and seven. Malachi chapter two, verses four,
five, six, and seven. And you shall know that I have
sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant might be with
Levi, saith the Lord of hosts. My covenant was with him of life
and peace, And I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he
feared me, and was afraid before my name. The law of truth was
in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips. He walked
with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity. For the priest's lips should
keep knowledge, and they should seek the law as his mouth, for
he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. In this passage of
scripture, we have one of the tribes mentioned that's found
throughout much of the Old Testament, particularly in the book of Exodus,
Leviticus, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, but
mentioned and sprinkled throughout the rest of the scriptures. So
I'd like to just go back to a few verses of scripture in the book
of Genesis in particular and pick up some thoughts about this
tribe of Levi in the book of Genesis chapter 29 We have the
introduction or the birth of a boy by the name of Levi Genesis
chapter 29 You remember that Jacob had fallen in love with
a young lady and wanted to marry her very badly. And he worked
seven years so that he might have her as his wife. And when
it came time for their marriage, he woke up the next morning and
his father-in-law had put in the oldest daughter first. He
couldn't let the younger daughter get married first. I don't know how us men would
have felt about that, but I kind of have a feeling that Jacob
was a little bit disappointed. And so it was that he worked
seven more years for the lady that he truly loved. And here
in the book of Genesis chapter 29, and beginning with verse
31, we have these words. Genesis chapter 29 verse 31,
and when the Lord saw that Leah was hated, He opened her womb,
but Rachel was barren. And Leah conceived and bare a
son, and she called his name Reuben. For she said, Surely
the Lord hath looked upon my affliction. Now therefore my
husband will love me. And she conceived again and bare
a son, and said, Because the Lord hath heard that I was hated,
he hath therefore given me this son also. And she called his
name Simeon. And she conceived again and bare
a son, and said, Now this time will my husband be joined unto
me, because I have borne him three sons. Therefore was his
name called Levi. And she conceived again. and
bear a son, and she said, now will I praise the Lord. Therefore,
she called his name Judah and left bearing." Now, I don't know
about you, but when I was studying for this earlier this week and
today, I stumbled onto that verse 36 and found out that Levi and
Judah were brothers and I'd forgotten that part. So we have Levi mentioned
there. The Lord had opened her wound,
she bore these four sons, and Levi is the third one. And then
if you'll turn with me to the book of Genesis chapter 34. Genesis chapter 34, we have Levi
mentioned again here with his brother Simeon. And these two
young men at this time, probably in their 20s, they revenged their
sister. And it tells us in Genesis 34
and verse 25, and it came to pass at the third day that when
they were sore, the two sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Diana's
brethren, took each man his sword and came upon the city and slew
all the males. So this was their way of revenging
their sister, and they killed all the males that were in that
city. And yet, this event, was not forgotten by their dad. It
caused a lot of problems for him, and if you'll turn with
me to Genesis chapter 49, in the last few days of Jacob's
life, we have him being able to say a few things to his sons. And it was like a prophecy. It
was like a statement about what their life would be. And here
in Genesis chapter 49, verses 5, 6, and 7, it says, Simeon
and Levi. Now he's already spoken about
some of his sons, and he's going to speak about all of his sons.
A couple of his grandchildren are going to be mentioned in
here too. Simeon and Levi are brethren. They have like tempers, disposition,
and manners. They are brethren. They are really
brothers, but they have a lot of things in common other than
that. Instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. Oh, my soul, come not thou into
their secret, unto their assembly. Mine honor, be not thou united. For in their anger, they slew
a man. And in their self-will, they
dig down a wall, cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, and
their wrath, for it was cruel. I will divide them in Jacob and
scatter them in Israel." Now, I don't know about you, but if
I'd have received a will, the words in my father's will to
me about that, I'd probably said, that doesn't speak very highly.
So Jacob brings to us some information about these guys. They had like
tempers, and disposition, and manner, and they were bold, and
wrathful, and cruel, and vengeful, and deceitful, and they joined
together in their evil counsels and their evil actions. It really
brought to my mind a passage of scripture over in the book
of 1 Corinthians, because why would God ever want to use folks
like this? Why would God ever incorporate
in His covenant of grace folks like this? But we find over in
the book of 1 Corinthians, and if you turn there with me, 1
Corinthians 1, we have the Apostle Paul as the secretary for the
Holy Spirit sharing with us that God does things so much differently
than we do. 1 Corinthians 1, and it tells
us beginning with verse 26. There is never room for boasting
in what we have done. These two guys are brought to
our attention by their dad about their cruelty and the things
that they had did and the problems that they, what they did caused
to him. And yet here in the book of first
Corinthians chapter one, beginning with verse 26, for you see your
calling brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh,
Not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God hath chosen
the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. And God
hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things
which are mighty. Now we're going to find out that
Levi is going to be put into a very special category of folk
when the children of Israel leave Egypt. They're going to be so
much different than everyone else in all the rest of the tribes.
They're not going to be given property in the promised land,
but they're going to be given cities, but they're going to
have responsibilities. that far exceed the responsibilities
of the other folks, they're going to be a wonderful picture and
a type and a shadow of the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, when we
come back to Malachi chapter two in just a few moments, we're
going to find out that those four or five verses of scripture
could be speaking of no one else but the Lord Jesus Christ. Jacob
has already summed it up, and the Lord is summing it up here
for us, and we'll find out that there is nobody that could do
what is written about in those verses of Scripture except the
Lord Jesus Christ. The picture, there's no iniquity
in their lips. Well, there was a lot in Levi's
lips, and there's a lot in Simeon's lips, and even in Jacob's lips. A lot of things, a lot of problems
that they had. But God overrules. He rules and overrules. And in
this passage of scripture, it tells us, verse 27, but God hath
chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise,
and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound
the things which are mighty. If we go down the trail of ways,
we find that as Aaron is called to be the high priest, I can
just see people, did you know what his great-grandfather did? Did you hear what our great-great-grandfather
said about him? There's no way in this world
he should be in the position that he's in. Vote against it. Well, there are several that
did vote against it They didn't like Aaron being the high priest
and they didn't like Moses being the leader. So God has chosen
the foolish things It's not our choice. It's God's choice. Just
like whoever he chooses in the covenant of grace I'm sure the
Church of Jerusalem thought God had made a mistake when he had
any dealings with Saul of Tarsus and Just as the man who was called
unto baptizing thought, this guy is a real rascal and I don't
want to get around him. Well, it goes on to say, in verse
28, the base things of the world, the things which are despised
has God chosen. Yea, the things which are not
to bring to naught the things that are. Why? That no flesh
should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification,
and redemption. that according as it is written,
he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. So these folks are
going to have to come to that place. If anybody is ever saved
by the grace of God, they'll be brought to the place that
they will glory in the Lord and not in themselves and not in
someone else. So we look at the genealogy of
these folks. These four boys are born in somewhat
out of spite Because the person that Jacob truly loved couldn't
have any children. All right. As we look here, turn
with me, if you would, to the book of Exodus, chapter 32. As we continue this look at Levi
just a little bit further, in the book of Exodus, chapter 32,
we'd say Aaron commits the unpardonable sin Now from our viewpoint, we
probably would say that, but from God's viewpoint, to a believer,
there is no unpardonable sin. To a believer, every sin is put
under the blood of Christ. Every sin is paid for. There
is nothing to be answered for. We read here in the book of Exodus
chapter 32, how in the world could this man Aaron, when his
brother's on the mount, how could he, allow the people to get into
this position of worshiping a golden calf and he's the one that builds
the calf. That is just beyond my imagination, except when I
start reviewing myself. The times that we have I'm thankful
that we may have doubt about God, and we may have doubt about
God's word, and we may have doubt about God's purpose, and we may
have doubt about what He's doing with us, and we may have all
these other feelings. But when it comes to God, He
is in charge, and He does not lose any of His children. So in Exodus chapter 32 verse
17, Exodus 32 verse 17, And when Joshua heard the noise
of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, there's the
noise of war in the camp. And he said, it's not the voice
of them that shout for mastery, neither is the voice of them
that cry for being overcome. But the noise of them that sing,
do I hear, came to pass. As soon as he came nigh unto
the camp, they saw the calf and the dancing. And Moses' anger
was waxed hot, and he cast the tables of his hand, break them
beneath them out and he took the calf which they'd made and
burned it in a fire and Grounded in powder and straddled upon
the water make the children of Israel drink it now in verse
in verse 20 Verse 26 He he talks to Aaron
about this and Aaron lies about it and We threw the gold in the
fire and it jumped out a calf. But notice verse 26. Then Moses
stood in the gate of the camp and said, who is on the Lord's
side? Let him come unto me. And all
the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. I find that
interesting. All the sons of Levi. And they
take up swords. against these folks. And there fell that day, in verse
28, about 3,000 men who was on the Lord's side. And all the
sons of Levi gathered themselves. Now in 1 Kings chapter 12, would
you turn there with me? 1 Kings chapter 12, as we look
at another incident about Levi. First Kings chapter 12. The kingdom
has been split. When Solomon died, his son Rehoboam
and a man by the name of Jeroboam have some conflict. Now it's
already been appointed in the purpose of God that Jeroboam
would have ten tribes and Rehoboam would be left with two tribes.
It's already been laid out, it's already been decreed, it's already
happened. But, as we read here in the book
of 1 Kings chapter 12 and verse 27, 1 Kings chapter 12 and verse
27, if this is Jeroboam's words, if this people
go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem,
then shall the heart of this people turn again unto the Lord,
even unto Rehoboam, king of Judah, and they shall kill me and go
again to Rehoboam, king of Judah, whereupon the king took counsel
and he made two calves of gold and said unto them, It is too
much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Behold thy gods, O Israel, which
brought thee out of the land of Egypt. A lot of similarities
between this and the time that Aaron built that golden calf.
And he set one in Bethel and the other in Dan. And this thing
became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one,
even unto Dan. And he made a house of high places
and made priests. Now Lois, notice this. He made
priests of the lowest people, which were not of the sons of
Levi. He had contempt for the priesthood.
He made priests out of just anybody. They had a local call, but they
didn't have a long distance call. He tells us there, and Jeroboam
ordained the feast in the eighth month, on the 15th day of the
month, like unto the feast that was in Judah. Different days,
it was like it. So the people that said, well,
you know. This is almost like what we had.
He had contempt for the temple and the temple service and he
had contempt for the feasts. This is a good place to worship.
And it's interesting that in the days of the Lord Jesus that
there was a woman at a well who went there because of her lifestyle
and didn't want to be talked about by the other ladies, went
there and the Lord Jesus met her and she brings up this very
thing about our Folks tell us in this mountain where to worship
and you say in Jerusalem we're supposed to worship. So she knows
all about what took place here in 1 Kings between Jeroboam and
his folks and how they're going to keep people from going down
to Jerusalem. We'll make it just all most attractive. In fact,
it's going to be easier. It will be easier for people
to go because we'll have two places to go. We'll have one
in the north and we'll have one in the south and they won't have
to go to Jerusalem. And it will almost be like the feast that
they're having down there. And we'll have priests too, but
he ignored and said, we don't want any of the priests of Levi. No priest of Levi. So we've trailed
through the scriptures about Levi, and now let's go back,
if you would, to the book of Malachi chapter 2. Let's look
at that passage as we see it truly speaks of no one not Aaron,
not Levi, not any of the children of Levi. It truly speaks here
about the Lord Jesus Christ, the book of Malachi chapter two,
for there's no one that could fulfill what we have here. in
these verses of scripture except the Lord. This is speaking about,
it's a picture, it's a type, it's a shadow of the Lord. It
says there in verse four, and ye shall know that I have sent
this commandment unto you, and that my covenant might be with
Levi, saith the Lord of hosts. My covenant was with him in life
and in peace, and I gave them to him for fear wherewith he
feared me, and was afraid before my name. The law of truth was
in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips. He walked
with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity."
Now there's only one that could have ever fulfilled those words,
and that is the Lord Jesus. Now we might have priests in
the Old Testament or pictures and shadows of that, but no one
could complete that. It tells us about Aaron, had
to go offer sacrifice for himself and then for the people. And
when we get to the book of Hebrews, it says that they had to take
care of themselves and then for the people, which the Lord Jesus
never had to do. He never had to offer sacrifice
for himself and then for the people. He offered sacrifice
for his people. The Lord Jesus is with whom the
covenant was made, and it is made continuously. He is the
fulfiller of it. He's the messenger of it. He's
the administrator of it. And he's the preserver of all
the blessings of the covenant, the Lord. And historically, we
find out in the covenant that God chose Israel out of all nations
of the world. And there were people upset about
that. And God chose out of Israel, He chose out of their tribe of
Levi. And there's folks upset about
that. And He chose out of Levi a man
by the name of Aaron, who was Moses' brother, and there's going
to be folks upset about that. It just gives us an insight of
how people get upset about God doing his business as he plans
to do his business. Get upset with his sovereignty,
get upset with his choosing, get upset with his election,
get upset because natural man against natural man was upset
with God for doing what he had done. Israel, a nation chosen
out of all nations. That thought continues on. I
can't believe how much is on the TV about Israel today when
the church is Israel today. We have nothing to look forward
to in Israel except hopefully some of them will be saved, just
like we hope those in our own families are saved and those
around us will be saved. A covenant was made with Israel,
a covenant was made with the priesthood of the tribe of Levi,
and Aaron was out of that. This family should do the services,
and upon the condition of that, God's choice would enjoy the
blessings of the priest's office. Now turn with me to the Psalms.
Keep your finger right here, but go back to the book of the
Psalms. In Psalm 106, Psalm 106. There's much said in this psalm,
but I'm just going to leave the reading, the bulk of it, to you.
But I want to read a couple of verses out of this psalm. And
it tells us here in verse 7. Psalm 106 and verse 7. I wonder how much actual difference
in the amount of power it took of God to have the Son stay in
its place, and the earth circle the sun. And every morning, whether
it's on a short day, as we're about to approach, or a long
day in June, how much more power it takes for God to keep the
sun and the moon and the earth in its place than it took for
him to dry up the Red Sea. To me, it's almost compatible. And those folks down there in
Egypt, those Israelites, 12 tribes, went from 70 to probably 6,400,000
years. When God began to work down there
and cause lice and blaine and the river turned blood and frogs
and flies and all of the other things, God's insult on their
gods, It tells us here in Psalm 106
in verse 7, our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt. Now what does that mean? They understood not that this
is Almighty God's action. It's no more different to me
in our day and time than the sun coming up. We call it the
sun coming up, really, the Earth's turning. But the sun coming up,
or a rainstorm, or snow. All of the things that
we watch around us are of no greater power in God's hands
than what He exercised back then. And there was no greater power
exercised back then than there is today to keep things going
as they're going. And people don't believe. Even
though every day the sun comes up, and every day sunshine on
the just as well as the unjust, and rain on the just as well
as the unjust, and all of these things happen, and God's movement
among peoples, these things are just almost identical to what
went on down here. And yet we read, the fathers
understood not thy wonders in Egypt. Today we have Mother Earth,
and Lady Luck, all these things to explain how things happen,
and that was just exactly the same way that people looked on
it back there in Egypt. It says there, but provoked,
excuse me, they remembered not the multitude of his mercies,
of thy mercies, but provoked him at the sea, even at the Red
Sea, and went on and on and on. Nevertheless, he saved them for
his namesake, that he might make his mighty power to be known. And drop down to verse 16 of
that. It says, and they envied Moses also in the camp and Aaron. They envied Moses and Aaron.
Why? Because they had been chosen
by God. God chose Moses. He was really
a rapscallion. that time down there in Egypt,
and he understood something was going to happen. God was going
to use him in some way, but he killed a man over this. And then he was about to kill
another man over this, and God scooted him out of there. And
here we read in verse 16, they envied Moses because God had
chosen him to the position that he was in as the leader of Israel.
And they envied Aaron. And what's it say about Aaron?
The saint of the Lord. Well, I'm glad he's under the
blood. Doesn't take us very long to
read some things about Aaron that we say, well, I'd never
do that. Well, we do. We do. They envied Moses. Now, we could go back to the
book of Numbers chapter 16 and chapter 17, one of Moses's and
Aaron's very own family member said, well, let's just go. I
want to read a couple of verses in Numbers. Numbers. And as we look at this, we find
that these are just statements made with regard to God's choice,
and particularly God's choice of a savior. How it rubs against
the natural grain of man that God would ordain, God would choose,
God would ordain, God would set aside, God would bring into this
world a savior. And he's the only savior and
he doesn't need any help in saving his people from their sins. Here
in the book of Numbers chapter 16, we can almost hear what religion
says today. Numbers chapter 16, in Korah
verse 1, the son of Izar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi,
And Dathan and Abram, the sons of Eliab and On, and the son
of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men, and they rose up before
Moses with certain of the children of Israel, 250 princes of the
assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown. They had been
put in places of positions, and when Moses heard it, he fell
on his face, and he spake to Korah and unto all his company,
saying, even tomorrow, Will the Lord show who are his,
and who is holy, and will cause him to come near to him, even
him whom he hath chosen will he cause to come near unto him?
So they come against Moses, and they say in verse three, you
take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy,
every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Wherefore then
lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord, Moses
didn't want his position, and God gave it to him. Aaron didn't
want his position, and God gave it to him. These people wanted
a position, and God didn't give it to them. Well, we find out
that if these folks die a normal death, God's not in it. But if something that has never
happened before happens to them, then this is God's anger being
fulfilled. And it tells us the earth opened up, and they dropped
into the pit, every one of them. And then the fire came out of
the pit and killed several thousand of these folks. So the very next
chapter is brought up again. And God said, okay, let's settle
this one time and forever. Let's take some walking sticks,
one to represent every tribe. Chapter 17 of this, verses one
through five. And they set aside these walking
sticks, and they took them. Aaron represented Levi, and the
rest of the folks had their representation. And they brought 12 of these
walking sticks and put them into the tabernacle. And the next
morning, we know exactly what happened. God made a choice clear. Well, he continues to make his
choice clear. My choice is my Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's come in the flesh. He's
the Savior, the only one I recognize. And yet people say, well, my
dry walking stick, it looks like it has a leaf on it. It looks
like it has a blossom on it. It looks like it has some fruit
on it. looking like and actually having are two different things.
And when they pulled Aaron's rod out the next day, that dry
old walking stick had leaves and blossoms, buds and fruit
on it. God made a choice. He let it
be known. Well, God does this all the time
and he lets it be known about his own savior, his own son. His covenant was with him. No
one else. Now, in that covenant, he has
a lot agreed upon, but there's only one covenant of grace. He
doesn't make multiple covenants of grace. He made one covenant
of grace, and that was with his son. And in that covenant, the
son is going to cover the sins of all his people. The Lord has
been greatly maligned throughout history, just like we find they
maligned Moses, they maligned Aaron, there was a guy right
there outside the Garden of Eden that maligned his own brother
because he offered an offering more acceptable. What does that
mean? It was God's offering. What was Cain's offering? Cain's
offering. What was Abel's offering? God's
offering. That's what he expected out of
it. Abel knew he needed a substitute and Cain never saw that. Well, here we have the Lord has
been greatly maligned, yet he is chosen of God. He is the high
priest. He is the high priest after the
order of Melchizedek. He's not of the tribe of Levi. He's of the tribe of Judah, which
is nothing said about having a priest come out of them. But
we have this great high priest. And three times in the book of
Hebrews, I'd like to read three verses in the book of Hebrews
that goes right along with this. God's covenant is with him. It's
a covenant of life and peace. There is no death in this covenant. The covenant of grace is a covenant
of life. The law is a covenant with death. The covenant of grace is a covenant
of life and it brings peace. There is nothing but peace in
it. Here in the book of Hebrews chapter
2, Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 17, wonderful passage of scripture
about our great high priest. Aaron committed some great crimes
and yet when it came down to it, God set it in order. He is my choice. The man who wanted to rise up
and brought all that nonsense against Moses and Aaron, they've
been consumed. I forgot to bring out one verse
over there. I've got to find it. The people's
reaction. I've got to find this. Number 1641, yes. Number 1641. But after this happened, after
Hora and his family goes down in the pit, on the morrow will
the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses
and against Aaron saying, you have killed the people of the
Lord. It isn't fair. It isn't fair. You have killed one of our leaders.
Well, that's the reaction of humanity against the covenant
of grace. Alright, over in the book of
Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 17. Wherefore in all things it behooved
him to be made like unto his brethren that he might be a merciful
and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation
for the sins of his people. Might be a faithful, merciful,
and faithful high priest. Chapter three and verse one.
Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider
the apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus,
who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses
was faithful in all his house. In chapter four and verse 14, Seeing then that we have a great
high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of
God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not a high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly
to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace
in time of need. The Lord Jesus, is the one that
had no guile in his lips, no sin on his lips. He's the one
that had absolute ability to turn many from their iniquity. He walked with God in peace and
equity. They walked equal. That word
is translated often as a plane. where it's flat, they walked
in equality, and iniquity was not found in his lips, and the
law of truth was in his mouth. Everything about the Lord Jesus
is fulfilled, or spoken of in here, everything spoken of here
is fulfilled in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, the types
and shadows that God brings out in the Old Testament with regard
to Levi, we find that Jesus Christ was made like unto sinful man,
but without sin. and the wonderful statement,
I've chosen him. This is my identified one. You
could see it. You could mark it down. He is
the rod that has budded. He is the stem out of the rod
of Jesse that has budded here and among us. And so, as the
Lord talks to these folks, these priests there in the book of
Malachi and says, you're gonna, You're going to be butchering
out one of these lambs. And I know how careful you are.
You just are so careful that you won't get any of that alfa
on you. But I'm going to have one of
those guts break, and you're going to have that poo all over
your face. And you will be disregarded. You will be set aside. You're
unsanctified. Don't go any further. All right. We'll stop there.