Leviticus 19:28 Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD.
Basically there were 2 practices that existed in those times that would leave permanent marks on ones body. Making a cutting in the flesh which would leave a scar or printing onto the skin various designs or patterns because, “hey! it looks cool.”
You can look at it in any translation and it conveys the same meeting. So whats the big deal?
Well, first of all because God said so, but that would make this a rather short message and you would not feel that you got your moneys worth. So…
Lets take a moment to talk about scars. I can show you a few on my body and I can remember in great detail the circumstances in which I got them. And that is the whole point of the matter with the cuttings issue. My scars were from an accident or from surgery – I see the scar and I reflect on the experience and have a constant reminder/memorial of the event in which I obtained that scar. People would cut themselves to create a living memorial of the person who died that they want to remember. This is a form of ancestral worship and God’s Word says you will worship Him and Him alone. We are not to make scars on ourselves and be a living memorial to anyone, we are to be an earthen vessel to His glory.
Well that was pretty straight forward, but lets address the printing marks on yourself issue. Why does God not want us to do that? Consider flags, patches, medals, badges, logos, team jerseys, and various other symbols you see everyday. These things commemorate achievements, convey memorials, invoke thoughts, and demonstrate alignments/loyalties to various things. The Boy Scout merit badge for camping, the biker patch for riding a 1000 miles in 24 hours, the rank insignia of a military officer, or the design of a countries flag invoke thoughts to those who see them and have meaning to those who wear them. Our bodies were not made to bear these things, our bodies were not meant to bear marks, they were made in the image of God and made to be vessels to bear His glory. This body that God gave us to be stewards over has a large manual that comes along with it.
I Corinthians 6:13 Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.
The body is not an empty canvass for the local tattoo guy to apply his trade. Just because the command to not print marks on the body was written thousands of years prior to New Testament doctrines does not make them any less important to God or us any less obligated to observe. We also cannot propose that things commanded in the Old Testament that are not expressly mentioned in the New Testament are in valid because Jesus said in
Matthew 5
17Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
18For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
19Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
20For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
God sets His mark on us
Ezekiel 9
1He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause them that have charge over the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand.
2And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lieth toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer’s inkhorn by his side: and they went in, and stood beside the brasen altar.
3And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer’s inkhorn by his side;
4And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.
5And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity:
6Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.
Zechariah 13
6 And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.
7 Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.
What we are supposed to bear
II Corinthians 4
10Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
Galations 6
17From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.
TBC…………………..