The Writings of Leviticus

Most people may stop reading the Old Testament when they get to the book of Leviticus. They may start the book, then the questions come, “How does this even apply to my life today?” or, “Why are the so many rules in this book?” and, “Why would God include a book like this in the Bible?” This response is understandable! Some books of the Bible are more difficult to understand than others. But if we are able to peel back the thousands of years that separate us, and step into this time that was before Christ when God was setting His people apart, we will gain more understanding into His nature and our Identity as His children.

 Leviticus was written right after the book of Exodus. Exodus gave directions on how to build the tabernacle, and now Leviticus gives directions on what to do in the tabernacle. This tabernacle is the place where God lived with His people He called to be set apart and holy.  The opening verses in Leviticus tell us that God called out to His people. This is a good way to view all of Leviticus: a loving God calling His people to be with Him in His tabernacle. It’s almost like God, as a father, is calling His children to come home. It shows God’s desire to be with His people. This means that all the directions and regulations we read about in Leviticus have one main purpose: holiness. We may read some of the regulations today and wonder their purpose but they were given to the Israelites to set them apart in the holiest of ways. When God called the people to be holy, that means He wanted them to be different from people in the other nations. He want them to be holy and set apart to be used by Him in a special way. 

The presence of blood is another constant feature in Leviticus. A person would take their animal sacrifice to the priest and lay their hand on it while confessing their sins.  Then the priest would sacrifice the animal, spilling its blood everywhere. Why do we have to read about so much blood?  The answer points to Jesus Christ. The sacrificing of animals was a system where a life was given for a life, but this was only meant as a temporary solution.  Ultimately, even though this book was written far before Christ ever came, it paints a beautiful picture of the sacrifice that is to come through Jesus. 

While Leviticus is full of the sacrifices of bulls, rams, and lambs, it points toward the New Testament with hope. The hope is of the spotless lamb without blemish, Jesus Christ, who would come to save the world from its sin once and for all.  Leviticus has many commands that seem similar. Sacrifices to be offered over and over again.  It teaches how temporary and ineffective these sacrifices are for the people. After Jesus however there would be no more need for the sacrifice of animals and the spilling of blood.  Christ’s blood was the atonement for sin once and for all.  There would be no more need to leave God’s presence when there was sickness present, Christ’s body was broken to take sickness from us.  There would be no more need to access God through a priest as Christ gave us access by giving us His name.   The tabernacle would no longer be where God lived, because now God lives in us. When we realize this, reading the book of Leviticus begins to be more understandable. Instead of reading this book in confusion, we can read it as a section of the Old Testament that goes into great detail about all that Christ accomplished on the cross. The graphic details show us all Christ suffered for our behalf. We can now read Leviticus and understand it as a signpost pointing to our desperate need of Christ.  Suddenly this Old Testament book can shows us in a whole new way the work that Christ did on the cross for us.