Hello Church,
This Sunday we kick off seven weeks in Leviticus. Some of us might wonder why we’re spending so much time reading about sacrifices, priesthoods, food laws, and festivals that are all from a time before Jesus, and have all been so radically transformed by him. Here are three reasons why it’s good for us to spend a chunk of time in Leviticus:
- Leviticus is God making himself known. Even in the midst of laws and regulations, God reveals his character, his priorities, and his will for human life. We might relate to God in very different ways now that Jesus has come, but this is still the same God and we have much to learn about him and his will for us from Leviticus. As Paul said to Timothy, all scripture is useful… so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Tim 3:16-17)
- Leviticus shows us Jesus. When Jesus met with his disciples after his resurrection we can be pretty confident that he used Leviticus to he help them make sense of his life, death and resurrection. “Beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the scriptures concerning himself.” (Luke 24:27) It’s the same thing that Philip recognised when he first met Jesus three years earlier and told his friend Nathanael “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote – Jesus of Nazareth” (John 1:45). If we want to know Jesus better, Leviticus is a great place to look!
- Leviticus helps us understand the New Testament. Leviticus is assumed knowledge for the Apostles and it comes up in heaps of places that we might not have realised. When Paul wrote in Romans 8:3 that Jesus is a sin offering for us, it’s Leviticus that gives the background. And then when he wrote in Romans 12:1 that we ought offer our bodies as living sacrifices, that doesn’t make any sense for us to be a sin offering, because Jesus has already done that. What’s going on? Once again, it’s Leviticus that sets out the various sacrifices of joyful devotion that Paul has on view. Among many other possible examples, understanding Leviticus helps us understand so much of Jesus’ ministry in much greater depth and richness, such as the raising of Jairus’ daughter, the healing of the bleeding woman, his teaching about the Sabbath, and his encounters with people with leprosy, and many more besides.
Time and time again Leviticus will highlight the beauty of God’s holiness and the wonder of his grace in a way that calls forth a joyful all-of-life devotion from us. In fact, as I’ve been preparing for these next 7 weeks, I find myself thinking we could have spent twice as much time in Leviticus! I’m praying that God will take us deeper into his holiness and grace as we dig into his living and active word.
Cheers,
Simon