God's Heart for the Foreigner | Leviticus 19:33-34

God's Heart for the Foreigner

Leviticus 19:33-34

Dr. Brent McDougal

“When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God” Leviticus 19:33-34, NIV).

“When a foreigner resides among you in your land…”

“Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called ‘uncircumcised heathens’ by the Jews…You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel…You lived in this world without God and without hope” (Ephesians 2:11-12, NLT).

“…do not mistreat them.” 

“You must not mistreat or oppress foreigners in any way. Remember, you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt” (Exodus 22:21, NLT).

“The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born.” 

“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28, NIV).

“Love them as yourself…”

“Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37-40, NIV).

“…for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.”

“He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets prisoners free…the LORD watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked” (Psalm 146:7,9, NIV).

If God loves foreigners, so should we.