LEVITICUS – HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD
Click to Download the Printable Version
When you read those words, you really are reading something exciting. First, you are reading about how that the Tabernacle was finally completed. This mysterious building that we find in Exodus, has finally been accomplished and all of its parameters were verified and up to the “code” God had set before it. Second, you are reading about how there was a new way God was going to communicate to His people. God would now be communicating through the Tabernacle and the entirety of their worship life would center around this building.
If we were going to do a brief comparison from Exodus to Leviticus, we might say that Exodus is God showing His people the way out of Egypt, but Leviticus is God getting Egypt out of His people. And how God would do that is through the worship services and care ministries led by the tribe of Levi. This is actually how the book was named— The tribe of Levi was the designated tribe to conduct ministry and was responsible for the worship life of the entire nation. That is why there is so much information about the worship of God’s people— it’s because the book of Levi is a book of worship— and it was the Tribe of Levi who were over all of it. It was this tribe that led God’s people to be both separated from the rest of the world and have uninterrupted fellowship with God, all by their service in this Tabernacle.
And really, it is extremely hard to miss the fact that this worship life is covered here. If you didn’t understand anything else, there are at least two things you would understand by the time you were done: 1) God demands holiness from the worshipper, and 2) God requires a blood sacrifice in order to approach Him in order to worship. And the reason I know this is clear is because you’ll read the word “Holy” eighty times in these pages and you’ll read the word “Blood” a total of eighty-eight times.
However, despite these heavy keywords, you really need to approach this book carefully or you will lose the significance of them— and other repetitious procedures given to us in this book— and it will become a much harder read than it needs to be. Because in Leviticus, it really is easy to get lost in the flooding of what seems to be simply, raw repetitious information. But it isn’t simply raw, repetitious information. Remember, God has a purpose for allowing us to see everything that went on here.
How to Think About Leviticus
The Offerings (Chapters 1-7): The primary function of Leviticus once again, is worship, and worship was primarily done through sacrifice and offerings. And so when you read the first seven chapters of this book, that is literally all you see— procedures for the five main offerings. There is the:
1) Burt Offering: This offering is a statement made that says God is willing to accept those who come to Him with a proper sacrifice. In this offering, the whole animal was consumed on the altar, and it was a picture of the atoning of sin. (Leviticus 1:3)
2) Meal (Flour) Offering: After the burnt offering was made, a person could respond in gratitude through this offering. It was to be an expression of praise and the worshipper was to bring the best of their agricultural produce. Further, an additional “Drink Offering” could be given with this Meal Offering, as a symbol of joy, and was poured on top of the Meal Offering. (Leviticus 2:2; Drink Offering Leviticus 23:13)
3) Peace Offering: This was an optional offering made by the worshipper. This one was unique in the fact that the priest, the worshipper, and close friends ate together. This sacrifice had to be eaten in one or two days. In this Offering, the priest would represent God and would portray a picture of closeness in relationship. This offering can be broken down into three separate offerings. This is when you will read of the Thanksgiving Offering, the Wave Offering, and the Freewill Offering. (Leviticus 7:12-31)
4) Sin Offering: This offering had two primary functions: 1) It first dealt with the need for forgiveness of unintentional sins, and 2) It dealt with ceremonial uncleanness. Its purpose was to cleanse the tabernacle of human defilement and thereby making continued fellowship possible and God’s presence to remain on the tabernacle. (Leviticus 4:2-3)
5) Trespass Offering: This was intended to cause an individual to look past their personal sin and how it affects them, but to see the total damage of sin. A payment was made with this offering as well as a reparation for the actual sin. (Leviticus 5:16)
The Feast Days (Chapters 23-24): Another way God’s people were to worship God is found in the feast days. There are seven feast days mentioned in the book of Leviticus. What is hard to catch though when reading about these feasts, is that the first four happen in rapid succession as far as the calendar year is concerned, then there is a break, and finally, the last three were to take place. So let’s look briefly at these feasts:
1) Passover: Now, this one is pretty easy to understand after you get done with the book of Exodus. Obviously, this corresponds directly with God’s tenth and final plague before leading His people out of Egypt. (Leviticus 23:5)
2) Unleavened Bread: Fifteen days later, there would be this feast, and they were to eat unleavened bread for seven days. They also were required to put out all Leaven from their household. Leaven represented sin and evil and symbolized having a holy walk before the Lord. (Leviticus 23:6)
3) First Fruits: Then, the Sabbath after the feast of unleavened bread, there would be the feast of First Fruits. The people were to bring the very first and best of their harvest and wave a sheaf of wheat before God. It was a symbol that God provided this first fruit and that there was much more to come since it is God who replanted the earth and causes prosperity. (Leviticus 23:11)
4) Pentecost: Fifty days after the feast of first fruits, Pentecost was held (which puts us in late May or early June as far as our calendar is concerned). This offering required two loaves of bread baked with leaven. (Leviticus 23:16-17)
5) Trumpets: This was the first of the fall feasts (September). God seems to bring a lot of attention to the use of the trumpet throughout Scripture. In this case, God commanded its use as a proclamation of liberty. (Leviticus 23:24; Leviticus 25:8-10)
6) Atonement: This was the highest of holy days for the children of Israel. A day of affliction of the soul and repentance of sin. (Leviticus 23:27)
7) Tabernacles: This was so that the people of Israel would remember that God sheltered His people throughout their journey in the wilderness. On this occasion, they built shelters or booths and made these their places of worship for seven days. (Leviticus 23:34)
Getting Ready for Canaan (Chapters 25-27): In this section, God is giving additional rules and guidelines so that His people would be ready to enter the land of Canaan. This covers rest for the land, additional information about hired servants and bond servants, blessings, cursing, and personal vows.
What To Look for in Leviticus
Sacrifice (Chapters 1-17): Leviticus is not as easy to divide as other books, but it is not impossible. For example, the first 17 books have to do with the peoples’ fellowship with God. And the basis by which one approaches God becomes abundantly clear— they could only approach God by way of a blood sacrifice. Blood was the mediation by which a sinful person could be accepted by God.
Separation (Chapters 18-27): You’ll notice that these chapters have to do with being set apart as a vessel of holiness. The first section has to do with the sacrifice being the basis of fellowship, but that is only part of the picture. You see, if the sacrifice was all that mattered in terms of fellowship, a legalistic mindset would be inevitable. “Don’t worry, I’ll just bring a sacrifice and all will be okay.” Does that kind of thinking sound familiar at all?
But God makes it clear that the sacrifice is worthless without repentance and holiness. In fact, God tells His people, “Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the LORD your God” (Leviticus 20:7). You don’t get to God’s kind of holiness without continual repentance and a complete lifestyle change.
That said, in chapters 18-20, God deals with holy separation for His people, in chapters 21-22, God deals with holy separation for His priests, in chapters 23-24 the entire nation gets vivid reminders of separation through the feast days, and in chapters 25-27, God gives the entire nation of Israel final commands for separation before they were to enter Canaan.
What to Gain from Leviticus
As far as a takeaway is concerned for Leviticus, it is extremely hard to do without understanding how this book relates to the ministry of Jesus Christ. We have spoken about this before, but the Bible is a book of “Gradual Revelation” and you can’t understand the Old Testament without understanding Jesus— especially in this book. So let’s take moment to talk about how we find Christ in Leviticus so that we can make sense of it.
Christ in the Sacrificial System: When you read of the sacrificial system, you need to be able to see the laborious nature of the job of the priest. This ministry filled up his life daily. And at certain portions of the year, he was extraordinarily busy. We see these priests going in and out of the tabernacle area. Day after day, month after month, and year after year there they were— ministering and sacrificing constantly. It was a massive job. In fact, dealing with the people’s sin was so labor-intensive and so massive, that out of all the pieces of furniture mentioned as part of the Tabernacle, there is one piece that you will never read about— and that is a chair. And the reason why is because under the law, dealing with sin is a job that is never done— there was no sitting down, and there was no stopping— they had to keep coming… and keep coming…
However, once we get into Hebrews 10:1-18, we find a wonderful truth there that explains why we don’t worship that way anymore. When Christ was on the cross, just before He died, He gave out three words that fulfilled the law and defeated sin, and those three words were, “It is finished.” And when Christ finishes something, it is finished. Once again, the Old Testament priests had to keep coming and offering sacrifice… coming and offering sacrifice. But when Christ finished His assault on sin, by His death, burial and resurrection, Christ sat down at the right hand of the Father— It is finished! Christ, as our Great High Priest and our Great and Ultimate Sacrifice, put an end forever to the old sacrificial system because His eternal, righteous blood covers sin forever, and therefore, Christ fulfilled every sacrifice previously required by His people… forever.
Christ in the Feast Days: As we just mentioned, as far as the feasts are concerned, the first four happen rapidly, then there is a pause, and the final three are celebrated. This corresponds directly with the first and second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let’s briefly look at how this works:
1) Passover: Jesus is our Sacrificial Lamb. You should remember these words of John the Baptist, “… Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). And now, for those of us who receive Christ, are now marked with the blood of Christ, spiritual death passes over us just as physical death passed over those who had the lamb’s blood applied to their house.
2) Unleavened Bread: Jesus said that He was the bread of life. He had no sin and when we receive Him as our Savior, He becomes a part of our life.
3) First Fruits: Jesus rose from the dead! And by His promise also, we know that this is just the beginning… there is more to come!
4) Pentecost: This was the sign that Christ’s people would now include the Gentiles as well as the Jew. It was for this purpose that God empowered His church; so that the Gospel could go around the world to every tribe, tongue, and nation. These are the orders that we are still under as we await the return of Christ.
5) Trumpets: The trumpet was used for all kinds of reasons, but primarily it was used to signal the workers to stop what they were doing and come to the temple. When the high priest would blow the trumpet, the people would stop working and come directly to the temple, before God, and give themselves wholly to worship. As far as we’re concerned, Christ will use the trumpet one more time, and when that happens, we will all be caught up together with Him in the clouds. The time of our harvest will be over, and we will forever be with Him and worship before our King!
6) Atonement: This too looks forward to the Second coming of Jesus when God’s people (The Jewish People) will finally see Jesus, whom they crucified and rejected, and receive Him as their Messiah.
7) Tabernacles: It seems that this feast is an indication that when Jesus returns, He will once again physically “tabernacle” or dwell with His people forever.