CONGRATULATIONS...YOU HAVE MADE IT THROUGH GENESIS AND EXODUS! 6 Weeks down and only 46 to go:) The Gospel of Mark is a high energy and engaging read, Leviticus is a little different. I want to encourage to read every Word. For animal lovers this is going to be difficult, Leviticus is a bloody mess. A few years ago I was reading through Leviticus having a difficult time staying focused and making application and it hit me...one aspect of Leviticus is that it says to those who will have eyes to see and ears to hear..."this is how horrific sin is, this is what sin does...the thief has come but to steal, kill and destroy. How would your walk with the LORD be if every "little" accidental sin required you to go to the temple and slaughter an animal, slit its throat, cut it into pieces and burn it up...so that you could have fellowship with God again! Do you realize that there we no sacrifices for intentional, willful disobedience..."I know that I should not gossip, but I must tell her/him this about..." Only on the Day of Atonement were willful sins forgiven! One time each year!
As you read Leviticus keep in mind everything is pointing to Jesus, it is a demonstration of how HOLY GOD is and the seriousness of sin...and that sin requires that blood be shed to atone for those sins. THEN PRAISE GOD AND REJOICE GREATLY THAT OUR GREAT, AWESOME AND HOLY HIGH PRIEST ENTERED THE HOLY OF HOLIES ONCE AND FOR ALL AND ANONTED FOR OUR SINS...IT INDEED IS GOOD NEWS, REALLY GOOD!
The Israelites are camped on the plains below a smouldering Mt. Sinai. A few short months ago God freed this people from slavery by mighty acts of power. He guided them deep into the desolate Sinai Peninsula, and there He gave them commandments they promised to obey. God also gave Moses specific plans for a portable worship center, the tabernacle. Those plans were followed exactly, and now a splendid tent–church stands in the center of Israel’s camp, and Aaron and his sons have been ordained as priests.
The Book of Leviticus is actually a manual, a how–to guide for the new priesthood, explaining the duties of priest and people as they worship God at His tabernacle. In general, the first half of the book covers sacrifices and duties of priests, and the second half states principles of personal as well as ritual holiness. What is most striking is that powerful revelation about relationship with God is implied in all the Leviticus details. We realize that God has chosen to dwell with His people in a tabernacle that symbolizes both His presence and His power. We realize God’s presence has an awesome impact: those with whom God dwells must be a different, holy people! Every ritual and moral regulation of Leviticus is designed to drive this truth home. If God is with us, we must be wholly set apart to Him. We also realize through the emphasis on sacrifice that we stand before God as sinners. Only a people cleansed by sacrificial blood can draw near to the Lord to worship Him and to celebrate His presence. The frequent focus of Leviticus on ritual matters may seem foreign to you and me. But the underlying message of this manual of O.T. worship shines bright, and is relevant to us today.
Richards, L. O. (1991; Published in electronic form by Logos Research Systems, 1996). The Bible readers companion (electronic ed.) (75). Wheaton: Victor Books.
If you search Leviticus in the NASB for the word blood you will find it shows up 86 times in 65 verses. Leviticus, as I said, is a bloody book. It is stunning that today scientist, hematologist do not fully understand how blood works and yet thousands of years ago Moses could write that "the life of the flesh is in the blood."
BLOOD — The most important biblical concept in regard to blood is the spiritual significance of the blood of sacrificial animals. Although some scholars believe the blood primarily means the animal’s life, most agree that blood refers to the animal’s death. Most of the Old Testament passages that discuss sacrifices mention the death of the animal, not its life (Lev. 4:4–5). The Bible makes it clear that the satisfaction or payment for human sins was made by the death of a specified animal substitute: “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul” (Lev. 17:11).
In the New Testament, this Old Testament idea of sacrifice is applied to Christ’s blood. References to the “blood of Christ” always mean the sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross. References to the blood of Christ were made by Paul (Rom. 3:25); Peter (1 Pet. 1:19); John (Rev. 1:5) and the author of Hebrews (Heb. 9:14). Although all have sinned, “we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Eph. 1:7).
Youngblood, R. F., Bruce, F. F., Harrison, R. K., & Thomas Nelson Publishers. (1995). Nelson's new illustrated Bible dictionary. Rev. ed. of: Nelson's illustrated Bible dictionary.; Includes index. Nashville: T. Nelson.
Mark 1:40-44 Then a man with a serious skin disease [leprosy] came to Him and, on his knees, begged Him: “If You are willing, You can make me clean.” 41 Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out His hand and touched him. “I am willing,” He told him. “Be made clean.” 42 Immediately the disease left him, and he was healed. 43 Then He sternly warned him and sent him away at once, 44 telling him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go and show yourself to the priest, and offer what Moses prescribed for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.”
Interesting, Jesus told him to go and make the levitical offering for leprosy. You may remember in Matthew 5:17 Jesus said, “Don’t assume that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.
You and I think of leprosy and like the thought of cancer it is a horrible and dreadful thing to consider. It is important to remember that leprosy for the Israelite was doubly terrifying...why? First, because of the same reason it would be for anyone, it is a terrible disease, but for the Israelite, they were cut off from their community, they were CUT OFF FROM THE TEMPLE AND WORSHIP, THEY WERE CUT OFF FROM THEIR FAMILY. In addition to a painful, slow, horrific death...you did it alone, isolated.
So when Jesus healed this man and when HE healed the 10 lepers in Luke, HE was restoring health to their bodies, but HE also restored them to the Worshiping community, to their family, to life! That is why in Luke Jesus was amazed that only one returned to say THANK YOU, and the one was a Samaritan.
Remember when John the Baptist begins to have doubts about Jesus, do you remember what Jesus' response to John was? In Luke 7:22 “Go and report to John the things you have seen and heard: The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those with [leprosy] skin diseases are healed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news preached to them.
Do you realize this was our condition when Jesus found us? You and I were DEAD in our sins and trespasses...spiritually we could not walk, we were dead, spiritually we were CUT OFF from worship, we were spiritual lepers, we could not hear and we were poor and destitute...AND HE MADE US ALIVE TOGETHER WITH CHRIST...2 Co 8:9 You know the generous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty he could make you rich.
Father in heaven,
finish the good work YOU began in us, if YOU are willing, YOU can and will conform us to the image of YOUR Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ...if YOU are willing, if YOU are willing YOU can heal me from petty self-centeredness, from a small vision of what YOU long to do...if YOU are willing, you can make me clean! Create in me a clean heart, a heart to know YOU to love YOU to go hard after YOU.
Thank YOU for granting confidence in knowing that YOU will make me, YOU will make us clean! We have this confidence because we know that "Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? Rom 8:32
Please work this for YOUR glory and for our Joy in YOU!
love,
m