Forgotten OT Books: Leviticus: Holy God, Holy People
Introduction
I would wager the most JOKED-about-book of the Bible is Leviticus.
I know I have. I’ve joked how BORING and DRY it can seem.
Here’s a notice: I have repented of my disrespect toward God’s word. You should, too.
This morning, I am going to teach about Leviticus.
Admittedly, parts of it seem rather dry. Unrelateable. Strange.
I won’t exaggerate and tell you it’s now my favorite book. It’s not. And probably never will be.
This summer, we are going through an eight-week series looking at eight books of the Bible that are less well-known. Almost forgotten. So it’s our “FORGOTTEN BOOKS” series.
I read through the entire Bible every year, and have for 20+ years. But often I read rather quickly certain sections in Leviticus that are, in my opinion, more details than I sometimes want to read.
Commands about sacrifices, feasts, priests.
We can wonder: How does it all relate to today?
I’m not going to persuade you that it’s an easy read.
I can’t relate to every section.
It doesn’t seem to fit into my world and my faith in Christ.
Yet there is a foundation here that makes our understanding of the Christian faith stronger, richer, deeper.
It’s very insightful. And even relevant.
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful…” 2 Tim 3:16-17.
So if we don’t see the relevance to certain passages, the problem is ours, not God’s.
Last week in Job, Matt had 42 chapters to cover in 42 minutes.
I have only 27 chapters.
But don’t get your hopes up that I will be done in 27 minutes! ☺ Not a chance!
Let’s pray.
Lord, every word in this book, the Bible is important. You inspired men to write it down for us. Parts of it seem less relevant. Maybe difficult. Help us today and this summer to look at some of these often-forgotten books and learn and grow.
Open our eyes. Help us to value everything you say. Everything.
History of God and Man
Before getting into Leviticus, we need to ZOOM OUT.
We need to understand the Big Picture.
If we don’t know the Big Picture, we drop into Leviticus and will have trouble figuring out what the point is and how it fits in.
It’s like being dropped into the middle of a very large city like Chicago with no map, and no clue where you are and where you should go.
So first, I want to give a summary (maybe a rough one) of God and his involvement with man.
You might say it’s an overview of the entire Bible and the history of God and man.
So let me back up. Here is my CRUDE outline of MANKIND’S relationship with the Lord.
- God is holy, man is not.
He is HOLY. Magnificent. Glorious. Pure. Set apart.
We are the opposite. We are UN-Holy. Sinful. Impure.
Therefore we stand under his righteous judgment.
- God is merciful.
He provides atonement through substitution, life for life found in the blood of sacrifices.
- God calls his covenant people to fellowship with him.
He says, “Walk with me. Love me. Follow me. Obey me.”
- God provides mediators to administer this mercy through the covenant.
The priesthood. Priests were mediators.
This overview is true in both OT and NT.
Old Testament
Now the Bible is split into two parts: Old and New Testaments.
The name Old Testament is the same as Old Covenant.
The word “covenant” or “testament” is like a contract. An agreement.
In this case, God makes an agreement with his chosen nation, Israel.
He calls them into a relationship with himself, reveals himself to them, promises certain things to them, and calls them to walk with him in love and obedience.
Today we have the “New Covenant.” The New Testament.
God has made a covenant through his Son, Jesus Christ.
The New Covenant has replaced the OLD.
Let’s focus on the Old Covenant since Leviticus is part of it. WHAT IS IT??
In brief,
- Given to Moses on Mt. Sinai for Israel
- It’s far more than rules
- It is a call to Israel to be in a covenant relationship with the Lord God.
- It includes promises of blessing, and warnings of curses.
- Sacrifices were given for forgiveness
- Priests were given as mediators
- In the end, Israel constantly “breached the contract.”
Let’s focus on this covenant relationship that the Lord wanted with Israel.
The Lord said to Moses on Mt. Sinai:
Exodus 19:3–6 ESV “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: 4 You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”
Do you see God’s heart of love here for the people??
He is yearning for them to be in relationship.
To remember his Salvation from Egypt.
To obey him. To listen to him.
He yearns to make them his treasured possession. His beloved.
A kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
What HONOR and PRIVILEGE.
What JOY.
Essentially, the Lord desires a “Covenant Relationship” with people.
We tend to think of this Old Covenant as simply a bunch of RULES. Do’s and Don’ts.
It certainly does contain lots of commands.
The Ten Commandments are just a few paragraphs later, and it represents that Covenant.
But this Covenant much richer and more beautiful than that.
In this Covenant, the Lord calls his people to Love him and Follow him.
For us today, we are not under this Covenant.
We are under the New Covenant. The Covenant from God about eternal life through God’s Son, Jesus Christ.
Like our view towards the OT, we can sometimes view the New Covenant as simply a set of rules.
We say, “Sure, I’m to believe in Jesus. But after that, it’s simply about following the rules.”
But like Israel, we MISS THE POINT.
God calls us into covenant relationship with him through his Son, Jesus.
One of a hundred examples of this:
John 1:12 ESV “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God…”
God sent his Son to DIE and then RISE from the Dead.
And all who believe in the Son are brought into a covenant relationship with the Living God as God’s children.
This is astonishing!
When we degrade this covenant to a set of rules….we MOCK God!
There are some distinct differences between the Two Covenants.
Our covenant through Christ is much, much better.
We talk about this a little this morning, but simply read the book of Hebrews and you’ll see why our covenant is better.
Anyway, back to the Covenant to Israel.
God promises good to them. To BLESS them richly.
But over and over and over again, Israel failed in this Call by God to Covenant Relationship.
They sinned and refused to repent, so the Lord judged them.
The Old ultimately didn’t work because Israel failed to live up to their end of the contract.
In a sense, Israel BREACHED the terms of the “contract”.
They rejected this Holy God who had chosen them and set his affection on them.
Is this making some sense??
The Handout in your bulletin summarizes what our relationship is today to the Old Covenant.
Overview of the Law
So I want you to get the big picture this morning.
If you understand this better, two things may happen:
ONE, you’ll read the OT more.
TWO, you’ll understand it way better!
The Old Covenant is revealed in the first five books of the Bible.
It was given to Moses, who then gave it to the people of Israel.
The Law of Moses is sometimes called “The Pentateuch,” essentially meaning “the five books.”
Genesis—events from Creation leading up to the beginning of the nation of Israel.
Exodus—the beginnings of the nation of Israel, deliverance from Egypt, and the giving of God’s Covenant. The “Testament”
Leviticus—the giving of more laws and instruction following events in Exodus.
So sort of Exodus, Part II.
Numbers—events largely happening in the 40-year wandering in the wilderness before entering the Promised Land.
Deuteronomy—Events at the end of the 40-year wandering, right before entering the Promised Land.
All of Exodus through Deuteronomy (except for 2 chapters) occur within a 40-year period, right before Israel enters into the land that God had promised to Abraham 700 years before.
“The Promised Land.”
That’s a very, very quick overview.
You now understand EVERYTHING in the Old Testament!!! ☺
Are you ready to dive into Leviticus??
We’re funneling it all down.
- Starting with an overview of the history of God’s involvement with man.
- Narrowing that down to Israel and their covenant with God.
- Now narrowing it down to Leviticus.
Leviticus
In general,
- Leviticus is a continuation of Exodus. Sort of a SEQUEL.
Probably received by Moses while on Mt. Sinai.
- a call to the people of Israel to be the Lord’s covenant people…
…to walk with him, to live holy lives in obedience, and to experience the blessings of God.
- Leviticus lays out this covenant relationship through various commands.
- The title is from the Latin, based on Levi, the son of Jacob, the tribe of Israel.
Jacob had 12 sons.
- Levi’s descendants, of whom Moses was one, became the tribe who was to be devoted directly to service to God in the temple, ministering before the Lord for the sake of the others tribes.
- And Aaron and his descendants were called by God to be the priests, the ones who served as mediators between the Lord and the people.
Specifics in Leviticus
I want to give you some key themes in Leviticus.
I am going to express it this way:
One central theme: holiness
Three key words: blood, sacrifice, atonement
One powerful sentence: I am the Lord
One Central Theme: Holiness
One Central Theme: The Holiness of the Lord is woven throughout the book.
Leviticus 11:44–45 ESV “For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy… I am the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.”
God as HOLY means he is sacred. Set apart. Absolute moral perfection.
No Flaw or Sin or Darkness or Corruption in him.
His Holiness is as brilliant as the SUN in all its splendor.
And all of his holy commands flow out of his indescribably pure and holy nature.
There are only 2 chapters in Leviticus out of 27 that are narrative sections. Story portions.
And surprisingly, both of them involve the Death Penalty. God put some people to death for not walking in Holiness.
Leviticus 10:1–2 ESV “Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord.”
Fire came out. Nadab and Abihu became a pile of ashes!!!!
We might scoff at this and say, “Really, was it that big of a deal?”
We say that only because our view of God in his holiness is WAY TOO SMALL.
We should tremble before him. This Holy God is not to be tangled with or treated lightly.
To grasp the holiness of God, we have to get past the idea that God is like one of us.
If we shrink God down to some level like he is our BUDDY, a Buddy-Buddy friendship like I have with some men in this room, we will miss God. God is greater than we can imagine.
Leviticus is full of commands. Every command he gives is a call to holiness. Why? “Be holy because I am holy.”
Though many things have changed from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant in Christ, this call to holiness has not changed.
Peter in his letter quotes Leviticus.
1 Peter 1:14–16 ESV As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
For us today, the death and resurrection of Christ makes us holy.
That’s why we’re called “SAINTS.” Saints simply means “holy ones.”
God has made us holy.
Yet we don’t always walk that way.
So through the power of the Holy Spirit, God calls his children to imitate him. To follow him. To obey him.
“Be holy because I am holy.”
And note Peter’s motivation to do so: He calls us “obedient children.”
God has brought the believer in Christ into his family.
We who believe are now children of God.
We’ve got to get past viewing our Christianity as merely a SET OF RULES!!
Like Israel, we have been rescued from our Egypt. And so he calls on us who are now alive to live for the One who gave us life.
In the news the other day, at a Johnston High School baseball game this week, the Johnston high school athletic trainer saved the life of a baseball player when his heart crashed.
He used an AED to revive his heart.
That young man owes his life to the athletic trainer.
Israel owed their lives to the Lord who delivered them from Egypt.
Leviticus 11:45 ESV “I am the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.”
So every command in the Old Testament was an appeal to Israel to follow their Holy God, the one who saved them. The one who brought them into this Covenant Relationship.
- Do not worship other gods
- Offer sacrifices
- Celebrate feasts
- Be sexually pure
- Love your neighbor
Similarly, we owe our lives to Christ.
This Holy God—our FATHER— has called us into a Covenant Relationship, and he is now appealing to us to walk and act and think and speak like him. “Be holy because I am holy.”
So ONE MAJOR THEME in Leviticus is Holinesss. God’s holiness. And his call to his covenant people to walk in it.
Key words:
Blood, sacrifice, and atonement (and thus substitution)
Now let’s go to three important and related words:
Blood. Sacrifice. Atonement.
Leviticus 17:11 ESV “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.”
This one verse explains a great deal about our relationship with God.
Because God is holy and we are not, every man and woman who has ever lived is worthy of Death. Judgment.
But God, because he is merciful and gracious, has provided a means of forgiveness:
And the only way to escape that judgment is to exchange someone else’s blood for yours.
It’s the principle of Substitution. Someone else’s life for yours.
Someone else to die in your place.
It’s essentially what “Atonement” means.
"To make atonement for sin is to have the penalty paid and the guilt removed."
And the way the penalty is paid and the guilt removed is substitution.
This is why the Lord gave Israel the commands to sacrifice bulls, lambs, and birds: It was to atone for their sins.
He called them to holiness, to be holy because he is holy.
But he knew they would sin.
So he graciously provided a means of atonement. To have the guilt removed.
These three words are used dozens and dozens of times in Leviticus.
You might already be making a connection to the New Testament.
We don’t offer animal sacrifices anymore. WHY NOT?
Because Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God.
John the Baptist said this:
John 1:29 ESV The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
God gave Israel a plan for atonement, but the blood of animals are not as effective.
Animals have to be offered every year for all the sins.
And the cleansing that Israelites received wasn’t down to the core of their being.
So the Lord had planned all along that someday he was going to send his Son to become the blood sacrifice for us.
The Book of Hebrews in the NT talks extensively about all this. (It’s one of my favorite books.)
Hebrews 9:13–14 ESV For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
This is one reason why good works can never suffice for atoning for our sins.
I had a friend once who was very, very generous. I admired his generosity. But then I found out he was doing it out of extreme guilt over some secret sins.
He was trying to find PEACE in his soul and Peace with God by his works.
The wages of sin…the penalty for sin…is death. So it’s either our death, or the death of an animal (as allowed in Leviticus), or the death of Christ.
The more we understand Leviticus, the more we will understand the power and magnificence of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The New Covenant is so much better than the Old.
And Jews like the Apostle Paul saw that. They GLORIED in that.
Our salvation is beautiful and glorious.
Christ’s blood is the perfect Atonement. And eternal.
We don’t have to offer sacrifices every day or every year to be cleansed. In Christ, we are cleansed once for all time. “Eternal redemption….purifying (even) our consciences.”
So when you read through Leviticus, all the commands to offer sacrifices may seem burdensome.
But God was showing mercy and grace by offering atonement.
Key phrase: “I am the Lord”
Our one theme is Holiness.
Our three key words are blood, sacrifice, and atonement.
And now one simple but important sentence is: “I am the Lord.”
Twice he uses it here in this passage we already read:
Leviticus 11:44–45 ESV “For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy… I am the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.”
This simple sentence (very, very simple) is very deep and profound.
Word for word, it may be the most concise and heavy sentence in the Bible.
It appears 49X in Leviticus and 17X in Exodus!!!
And it’s almost always associated with a Call for Israel to OBEY the Lord.
To follow him. To walk with him in this Covenant relationship.
If the Lord says something once, that is enough for us. We should listen, trust, and obey.
But it says something me when he says something over and over again. I must not miss that.
This statement, in short, enthrones God and de-thrones us.
In our sinfulness, we see God as too small and ourselves as too large.
Subtly sometimes, we want to be Lord and King.
In one sense, when we sin, at our core we are saying that WE are Lord.
We will live how we want.
We will think the way we want to think.
And honestly, we don’t want God’s input.
That’s in part the essence of sin.
Author A.W. Tozer said this about the Great I Am:
“To admit that there is One who lies beyond us, who exists outside of all our categories, who will not be dismissed with a name, who will not appear before the bar of our reason, nor submit to our curious inquiries: this requires a great deal of humility, more than most of us possess, so we save face by thinking God down to our level, or at least down to where we can manage Him. Yet how He eludes us!”
Throughout the Scriptures, the Lord is not interested in having his people mindlessly and heartlessly follow the letter of the law. He wants our hearts.
So he says, “I am the Lord.”
I was challenged by this on Monday. I was tired, feeling selfish and lazy and trying to think how I could get my own way.
And the Holy Spirit reminded me of the Lord’s constant statement in Leviticus: “I am the Lord.” That startled me. I realized I was standing before a holy God who is the Great I Am, who is the Self-Existent One, who made all things, who made me. He helped change my heart.
Honestly, my temptations simply went away. “He is the Lord.”
In my heart, the argument over who was in control was settled. He is my Lord, and I will follow him.
Often we wrestle with temptations far too long and end up giving in simply because we have not settled this one issue: WHO IS LORD in our lives?
As long as I’m unwilling to settle that issue, I am going to fail in resisting temptation.
But as soon as I settle who is in charge, I will yield so much QUICKLY.
I found myself afterward at peace. “OK, you are the Lord. I am here to do your will. What would you like me to do?”
I’ve meditated on this one sentence every day this week, and through it God has helped me to walk with him in this Covenant Relationship.
When tempted to be anxious, I’ve remembered, “I am the Lord, you are not.”
He is in charge. He will care for me.
When tempted to be angry and irritated, I’ve remembered, “I am the Lord, you are not.”
He rules over all. He will judge things with fairness. I can be calm.
In both OT and NT, God is not some Slave Owner who is simply forcing us to Obey.
In Leviticus and for us in the New Testament, the Lord calls on his covenant people— to follow him as “the Lord.”
To love him as he loves us. To give our whole hearts to him. To walk in covenant relationship with him. To imitate him. To obey him.
Israel did not grasp the Lordship of God very consistently.
May we learn from them and remember, “He is the Lord.”
And by the power of the Holy Spirit YIELD to Him.
Conclusions
Some of you still might not be fired up to read and study Leviticus.
Leviticus can seem like an unrelateable book. Difficult to understand. Boring to read.
I want to encourage you to read it.
You might not be gifted with a passion to learn, study, apply, and teach the Word of God like I am….you have your own gifts.
So I don’t expect everyone to study exactly like I do or to the depths I do (although some of you should and will).
But all of us should desire to grow more. Take a step. Try it. Read it with someone older. Ask questions. Don’t give up merely because you can never see yourself as a great scholar. Just grow.
Perhaps start with the book of Hebrews.
In Hebrews you are confronted with both the Old and the New Covenants.
And you learn how the New Covenant of Christ is so much better.
As we read Leviticus in the left hand and a good understanding of the Work of Jesus Christ in the right hand, we will value our salvation so much more.