Pastoral Notes for Sunday, March 20, 2013
Overview of Leviticus0false18 pt18 pt00falsefalsefalse
About half a dozen of you asked me for some help in understanding Leviticus as you make your way through our two-year read through the Bible plan. I’d like to take a moment this morning to do that, but I thought the rest of you might like to listen in as well.
When embarking on Leviticus, it’s important to keep the context in mind. God has just rescued Israel from Egypt, and instead of just sending them on their way He commits to dwell with his people (Exodus 29:45-46). It sounds wonderful, but there’s a problem—a big problem actually. God is holy and the people are not. It is with this understanding that we enter the book of Leviticus.
The main concern of Leviticus is this question, “How can sinful people live in close proximity to a holy God?” With that question in mind, it begins to make sense why the whole book of Leviticus focuses on the priesthood—the Old Testament mediators between God and man. It also begins to make sense why the books content concerns sacrifices and offerings, cleanness and uncleanness, and holy living.
The sacrifices and offerings of Leviticus focus on how an unholy people can approach a holy God. Though there are five types of sacrifices with particular meaning and significance, the unifying aspect of each sacrifice is this: the need for bloodshed (atonement) for us to approach and commune with God. We might ask, “Why do we constantly need sacrifices (atonement)?” That leads to the second emphasis: we are unclean. Let’s spend a few minutes here.
Cleanness and uncleanness focus on our fallen condition as human beings. Though tedious to read, note that every condition of uncleanness—from skin rashes to touching a dead animal—are conditions caused by or inextricably linked with the fall.
For example, coming in contact with a dead animal (or human being) is to touch the reality of the fall. Since death did not exist previous to the fall, coming in contact with death transfers uncleanness to that person, and they become ceremonially unclean. That’s the logic of uncleanness and that makes pretty good sense.
“But what about skin rashes?” Well, that’s a good question. Let’s go a little further. Any visible abnormality like a skin rash is an external evidence of the fall. For instance, to have a rash means the skin is not functioning as it was originally designed. Therefore, I am unclean.
A quick clarification – it’s important to realize that Leviticus is not saying that someone with eczema is experiencing that problem because they’ve sinned in a particular way. Instead, Leviticus is saying that that experiencing eczema is evidence that the body is fallen and not functioning as it was originally designed. If I can put it this way, uncleanness is not necessarily tied to committing a particular sin (though it might) but is instead an unavoidable consequence of being a sinner.
One of you said to me, “It would have been impossible to remain clean in the Old Testament” Bingo! You’re absolutely right. To get to the punch line, that’s in large part the point of the book.
Let’s me go a little further to show this. Discharges from sexual organs and giving birth make a person ritually unclean. It’s quite clear that menstruation and childbirth are not sins, but these bodily realities are now burdened by the fall. We might even go so far to say that these bodily functions are now inescapably linked with the curse itself (Genesis 3:15-16).
To wrap up, what this means is that the Israelites were constantly moving back and forth from a status of clean and unclean. Through the sacrifices and cleanliness code, God was teaching them that there is nothing they can do to attain the perfect standard of holiness. In fact, the whole Levitical system was set up to exhaust the people of Israel, and thus increase their longing for…
· One who could live a perfectly clean and holy life on their behalf (1 John 3:5).
· One who could be their spotless Lamb and take away their sins (John 1:29, 1 John 2:2).
· One who could be their great high priest who lives to make intercession for them (Hebrews 4:14-16).
