Christ in all the scriptures Overview of Leviticus

 Christ in all the scriptures

Overview of Leviticus

Why study Leviticus?  What profit is there in a book which promotes Old Testament ritual, much of which is discarded for Christian worship today?  There is no demand to keep the Sabbath for Christians; no restriction on what food we eat; no priestly caste controlling religious services; no sacrificing of animals; no demand for annual festivals.  So, again we ask, what relevance does this book have for us today, and why should we study it?  This observation is important, for the reality is, we don't study it, whether in public teaching or in personal study.  It is the most neglected book in church communities today, being deemed either too difficult to understand, or too irrelevant to Christian life today.  This is regrettable for a number of reasons for it is actually the most revealing book about human sin, about the holiness of God, and about the efficacy of the work of Christ.  Indeed it was the first book to be taught to young Jews when learning their religion.  It was seen to be the most important of all studies, since it contains the law of God for His people, and the young Jew had to learn that association with God made many demands upon them.  It is the last book that Christians learn and the least book expounded on platforms or written in books in the wider Church.  Perhaps our sense of morality, today, is diminished as a result.

Leviticus is all about the laws of God for a people who worship Him.  In chapter 1-16 there are ritual laws, most of which are now abolished because Christ has fulfilled them all and there is no need for them any more.  In chapters 17-27 there are moral laws which govern our behaviour in association with God.  It will become clear that individual transgressions can affect the whole community and therefore diminish the value of  corporate worship.  

We cannot understand the nature of sin unless we understand the nature of God.  This is why the holiness of God is declared over 100 times in Leviticus.  We cannot understand the value of the sacrifice of Christ for us, until we know the depth of human sin in all its forms.  It is far to easy to quote and sing, "Jesus died for me" without proper awareness of what that means.  Therefore our worship is unacceptable to God, unless we know the reality of it.  The apostle James warned, "But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil,  Therewith bless we God, even the Father,; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing..."-James3v8-10.  This is the type of glib Christianity produced by failure of leaders to teach morality.  We live in days of "easy believism", taking to ourselves the benefits of forgiveness, without also realising the responsibilities.  

We know, for we are so instructed in the New Testament, that Jesus has fulfilled all the ceremonial law, and so it is abolished; He has fulfilled all the moral law (which we are to follow-Romans 8v4, because we now can).  The extent to which He has done this is all-embracing; there is nothing left for us to do.  All we can do, and as true worshippers we should, is follow Him and display the image of God in which we were created, and to which in Christ we have been restored.  Leviticus proclaims the absolute holiness of God, His absolute revulsion against human sin, and the remedy, which is Christ.  

There is a 3-fold nature of sin unfolded in the book 

1) Sin is unlikeness to God.  He is holy and the restrictions placed on those approaching God declares we are unholy.  150 times there is reference to the word holy in Leviticus.  Holy means pure, clean, blameless, unblemished, morally perfect.  The sheer number of restrictions demonstrate just how unholy, unlike God, we are.

2) Sin is an offence to God.   We have a sinful nature, and, whether by intention or ignorance, we are constantly offending Him, while trying to worship Him!  This is why they needed daily, weekly, monthly, annually, ritual cleansing.  The only way is through sacrifice, which is the point of the book.  This is why we need personal examination and confession.

3) Sin puts us at a distance from God.  The offerings are approach offerings, which have the thought of drawing near.  We cannot draw near to One who is repulsed by sin-refer James 4v8-10.  The description of our unconverted state is "alienation" in Ephesians 5v17-20.  Approach (drawing near) to God is by the beautiful entrance gate, the altar of sacrifice, the laver of cleansing, and the two vails, all of which speak of Christ.

The primary aspect of salvation from sin in the book

Atonement  Hebrew kaphar; literally means to cover over; occurs 45 times in Leviticus, (13 times alone in chapter 16).  First occurrence is in Genesis 6v14 where the ark was made watertight by covering it with pitch, within and without.  A kind of parallel is in Acts 17v30 "the times of this ignorance God overlooked-R.V.  There is no concept in the O/T meaning of atonement, that sins were put away, they were only covered over until Christ came.  This is clarified in Romans 3v25, "...to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God".  Through all the centuries of time, God overlooked, covered over, the sins of the past, in magnificent forbearance, in the prospect of the sacrifice of Christ, who would come as "...the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world"-John 1v29.  God suffered long the ways of men, knowing that His Son would remove the offence.

Necessary to this accomplishment were three stages: SUBSTITUTION by a flawless sacrifice/IDENTIFICATION, by placing the hands upon it/DEATH of the animal to the extent of shedding blood-the offeror was to kill the animal personally, signifying that sin meant the death of the substitute.  This way, those who draw near to God in worship are conscious of the seriousness of sin, and of the cost of the remedy.

This is Leviticus, the book that defines real worship.  God help us to jettison from our hearts mere ritual attendance/conformity to men/ hypocritical sanctimoniousness/a form of godliness and all the other manifestations of pseudo-Christianity.   Leviticus is 70% the direct words of God.   It is a record of His demands for approach to Him in all His perfection.  All these demands, every last one, has been met in Christ, but, in the study of them, we learn how much we owe, and are better equipped to worship Him.  In Leviticus God is speaking directly, will we hear Him?