Leviticus - Part 10: Trust, Worship, and Rest
Leviticus - Part 10: The Gospel According to Leviticus
Pastor Scott Skones
When we started our time in Leviticus on January 12, we mentioned that many of us have preconceived notions about the relevance, or perhaps I should say, the irrelevance of Leviticus for Christians today.
While I hope we all confess and believe that God’s word is inspired, many of us have, at times, doubted how useful and applicable certain sections of it are for our lives today.
At the heart of Leviticus is a question. A question might be expressed like this: “How can we approach God in all his holiness?” Or, perhaps, we should turn the question around and ask, “How would it ever be possible for a holy God to dwell among us sinful people.”
This sentiment is the question posed in Psalm 24 when David cries out, “Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place?”
We see in the opening pages of Holy Scripture that we were created to live in relationship with God. To live in unity with him. To serve him with gladness. To dwell in his presence. But by chapter 3 the wheels have fallen off and everything is a mess. And the rest of the Bible is the account of God redeeming and restoring that relationship with his people.
It’s a story of God’s mercy and God’s patience with sinners. And Leviticus, as I’ve mentioned earlier in the series, gives us much of the imagery and the vocabulary by which we can understand what Jesus came to do.
When we started this series in January, I shared six reasons that Leviticus is worth our time as a church, and I want to remind us of those six reasons today as we conclude.
1 - Leviticus structures the religious system of Israel, which is the context in which Jesus came.
And we’ve seen this throughout – we witnessed the sacrificial system. The ordination of the first priests. The first official worship service that God invited his people to be part of. Leviticus sets the stage for Jesus and his work.
2 - Leviticus deals with the holiness of God and how that impacts sinners.
Leviticus deals directly with the question of how sinners might interact with and worship a holy God. And, specifically, we’ve seen that God did everything necessary for us to be in relationship with him.
3 - Leviticus establishes the need for sin to be atoned for and is the theological and historical foundation for Christ’s atoning work.
We have witnessed the gravity of sin through Nadab and Abihu – through the blood shed – through the process of ritual cleansing after becoming defiled or unclean. And these moments have consistently left us feeling the need for one who can save, who can remove impurity, who can wash us clean.
Leviticus has made it clear that the answer for sin is a blood sacrifice to atone for the sin. That we need something or someone else to die in our place to pay for our sin. Something or someone perfect, without fault or blemish.
4 - Leviticus captures the direct speeches of God to his people through the mediator Moses.
I haven’t made a big deal of this in our time in this series, but it’s worth reminding ourselves that there are more direct quotations from God in Leviticus than anywhere else in scripture.
5 - Leviticus is quoted and alluded to by the New Testament, and Jesus himself, very often.
We saw this, for example, with the phrase “Love your neighbor as yourself” which originates in Leviticus. And there are many many other places where the New Testament quotes Leviticus – and countless other places where the New Testament utilizes the imagery of Leviticus.
6 - Leviticus is full of “arrows” pointing the reader forward to Jesus.
And when we follow those arrows from Leviticus, I think we arrive at one conclusion:
Leviticus leads us to trust, worship, and rest in Jesus.
Now, granted, that’s a bit of a bold statement, particularly for a book of the Bible that doesn’t even mention Jesus’ name explicitly – and a book that was written some 1400 years before Jesus was even born. The purpose of today is to put a bow on our time in Leviticus and help us understand the entire picture and purpose of the book.
I told you back in January that we wouldn’t be preaching through the book verse by verse or even chapter by chapter, but major theme by major theme. The goal has really been to give you the foundation and structure and purpose of the book so that you can see how it’s not an irrelevant book of laws, but a continual witness pointing to Jesus as Messiah, Savior, and Lord.
We’ve selected a dozen or so of the major images and motifs and metaphors that show up and followed them to their end. Allowed them to show us their purpose. And we have consistently noted that every time we find a thread and follow it, it leads to Jesus.
Many of you have heard this running joke that the answer to every question in Sunday School is “Jesus.” And while it is used as a joke – there’s an element of truth to it. The answer to all of the questions that arise in Leviticus is Jesus. Because, at its core, Leviticus is a collection of arrows pointing forward to one person.
And so today we are going to look at what I would identify as the four major focuses of the book – and, one last time, follow those threads, those arrows, to that object to which they are pointing. We will walk the road that they take us on and be reminded of where they lead.
Reading Leviticus is a journey with four major stops. If you think of Leviticus as a museum, there are four major exhibits. And within each of those exhibits, there are LOTS of details.
If you’ve ever been to any of the Smithsonian museums in Washington DC, you know what I’m talking about. If you stop to ponder every detail, every note on every artifact, you probably won’t get very far.
Leviticus is kind of like that. In each of these four major exhibits, there are countless details and nuances, and specifics. And, just like each note on every artifact in a museum, they are good, and important, and helpful, and rich in information. But they can also bog you down. And so I think as we look back on Leviticus, these four major topics will help you organize it and read it.
The first room on the tour of Leviticus is that which deals with:
Offerings and Sacrifices
We see this right at the beginning of the book, in chapter 1.
Listen to Leviticus 1:1-4:
The Lord called to Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting. He said, 2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When anyone among you brings an offering to the Lord, bring as your offering an animal from either the herd or the flock.
3 “‘If the offering is a burnt offering from the herd, you are to offer a male without defect. You must present it at the entrance to the tent of meeting so that it will be acceptable to the Lord. 4 You are to lay your hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on your behalf to make atonement for you.
We see that God invites his people to come and worship him by bringing sacrifices and offerings. And that animal that they bring must be without defect.
In other words, only a perfect offering would be acceptable.
Notice the purpose of this offering in verse 4 “It will be accepted on your behalf to make atonement for you.”
As Human beings, we have a sin problem that separates us from our perfect and holy God. And so God creates a system where he can remain just, where he can remain true to himself. There must be punishment for sin. There must be justice.
If God is fundamentally good and right. If God is the central moral force in the universe – then we would expect that when wrong is done, there is a need for things to be made right.
God puts in place a system where things can be made right – and that system is that God graciously allows a substitute to take the penalty for sin in the place of the sinner.
And here’s why this is so important. In the opening four verses of Leviticus we have in place the central idea of the Christian faith. The main message of Christianity, when taught according to Holy Scripture, is that God, in his great love, sent his son to be offered up on your behalf for your sin.
The opening words of Leviticus have this beautiful Gospel hope – right away.
Don’t ever let anyone tell you that Leviticus is irrelevant. There is no message in all of human history that is MORE relevant to human beings than the message that God, in his mercy, has made provision for a substitute to be offered up in the place of sinners.
And we know that it was the son of God himself, Jesus Christ, who became that substitute. Who became the sacrifice, the offering for us and for our sin.
This is the Christian faith. This is our hope. This is the Gospel.
Let’s look at the next major theme.
The second room on the tour of Leviticus is the:
Jewish Priesthood
In Leviticus chapter 8, Aaron and his sons are ordained as the first Priests of Israel. The priests were entrusted with performing the rituals and duties associated with worship and sacrifice in the Tabernacle.
In Chapter 9:6-7, we read this:
Then Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded you to do, so that the glory of the Lord may appear to you.”
7 Moses said to Aaron, “Come to the altar and sacrifice your sin offering and your burnt offering and make atonement for yourself and the people; sacrifice the offering that is for the people and make atonement for them, as the Lord has commanded.”
So the priests would offer a sacrifice for themselves, and then for the sins of the people. They were the mediators between God and man. They were God’s gracious gift to his people, allowing the forgiveness and redemption of God to come to the people.
And when we read the New Testament, we discover that they were a type, an arrow, pointing forward to Jesus.
1 Timothy 2:5-6 says - “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people.”
Jesus came and stepped into that priestly role – and became the mediator for us.
Now, what you might recognize right away is that this means that Jesus was not only the sacrifice but also the priest offering the sacrifice.
This should be a source of great confidence and hope for all who believe. That God took matters into his own hands. He became the substitute slain for sin, but he also became the priest who OFFERS the substitute.
And so, just like the first room on this tour, when we stop and look around this second room of the Jewish Priesthood – we see Jesus everywhere. Jesus is the focus. Jesus is the purpose. Jesus is where this thread, this theme, this arrow leads us.
Let’s go on to the next major theme.
The third room on the tour of Leviticus is the:
Clean/Unclean Dynamic
This clean/unclean, pure/impure dynamic shows up in chapters 11-15 of Leviticus. This is one of the sections that often derails those read through the Bible plans – and, more importantly, that causes a lot of confusion and shoulder-shrugging among Christians.
You might remember when we talked about these chapters – this is where we saw that animals with a divided hoof that chew the cud are clean, but others aren’t. Fish with fins and scales are clean, but others are unclean.
But the clean/unclean dynamic extends to skin diseases, mold, grasshoppers, and even childbirth.
And I would encourage you if you missed that sermon from February 9th to go back and listen to it. I’ve heard from many of you that it was really helpful for you in understanding what God is up to with all of this clean/unclean pure/impure stuff.
But one thing that will become obvious to you if you read through chapters 11-15 of Leviticus is that sin is utterly pervasive. It has invaded every nook and cranny of human existence. There is nothing you can do to avoid the effects of sin.
Even our holiest moments and holiest acts, like the birth of children, are in need of redemption and purification.
We are people utterly, desperately, in need of forgiveness and redemption and help. And when we stand back in this room and look around at all of the ways that we can become impure, sinful, cut off from God, we then are reminded that the sinless son of God became impure for us. He allowed the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years to touch him and he became unclean for us – proving his power over disease. He touched the girl who was dead, becoming unclean for us and showing that he is sovereign over even death itself. He ate with unclean tax collectors and sinners – those despised and rejected.
And then he put an end to this idea of clean and unclean – declaring all foods clean. Lifting the heavy burden of ritual purification. Jesus set us free from the prison of this clean/unclean dynamic.
The fourth and final theme – or to continue my metaphor – room on this tour of Leviticus is:
Living to Please the Lord
The last significant portion of the book is devoted to how God’s people live in response to him coming near to them.
And in this room we see Jesus’ commands to love our neighbors, including those we don’t particularly like. We see that God’s people live generously, caring for those around them. In fact, we have an obligation for the welfare of those God puts in our lives and neighborhoods.
And we are reminded in this room of God’s invitation to rest and to consistent, rhythmic worship.
We are given permission to say no to all of the other things and confess with our lives and our schedules and our decisions that he is of utmost importance.
And we are reminded of the provision of God. That he meets all of our needs.
And one thing in particular that I want to point out is the journey that the law has brought us on. In Leviticus, we’ve gone from “How do we approach God in all his holiness” to “Trusting, worshipping, and resting in Jesus.”
How do we live to please the Lord? We trust in Jesus as the sacrifice for our sin, as the true high priest who made atonement for me, and as the spotless, clean, pure savior who perfectly fulfilled the law when I never could.
In all these commands, all these rules, all these regulations, we are left knowing and believing that if our salvation depended upon our works. If our eternity was dependent upon our ability to live to please the Lord – that we would be damned. But God’s law shows us our sin. It leads us to the cross in repentance.
And at the cross we discover the Gospel – that Good news of the mercy of God for sinners like us.
And then we are free to live in obedience not IN ORDER TO please God, but because by faith, Christ has made us pleasing to God by his perfect sacrifice for us.
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As we wrap up our time in this series, I want to draw your attention to what might be the most common phrase in Leviticus. I didn’t count, but I read a trusted commentator who said that it shows up in some form around 45 times in this book.
I’ll give you one example of where it shows up – but trust me it’s all throughout the book.
Leviticus 25 when God gives instructions for the year of Jubilee that we talked about last Sunday. When God says that in the year of Jubilee, servants are to be released and given a fresh start. What is the justification that God gives?
Leviticus 25:55 - “I am the Lord your God.”
It’s this declaration of God’s power, God’s sovereignty, God’s control over all things. And this is, again, a common theme – repeated some 45 or more times in some form or fashion throughout the book.
And one last time in Leviticus, I want to trace that thread, follow that arrow, and see where it leads.
We might follow it forward to Isaiah 43:11: “I am the Lord, and apart from me, there is no savior.”
Or we might flip forward to John 8:58 when Jesus declares, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”
Or we might keep going, following that arrow, all the way to Revelation chapter 1:
On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, 11 which said: “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.”
12 I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. 15 His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.
17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
And then let’s follow the arrow all the way to the end. To the last chapter of Holy Scripture. Revelation 22.
Verse 13 - “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
Verse 16 - “I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”
Verse 20 - “Surely I am coming soon.”
Where does Leviticus lead us? What is Leviticus proclaiming to us? This resounding, rhythmic drum of Leviticus, 45+ times. I am the Lord your God. It leads us to Jesus. To Jesus who declares that he is the I am – the I am of Leviticus. And the I am who is coming again to make all things new.
Leviticus leads us to trust, worship, and rest in Jesus.
Trust Jesus because he is the true and better sacrifice, and the true and better high priest. Worship Jesus because he has made atonement for the sin of the world, and done everything necessary for us to be right with God. Rest in Jesus because he has forgiven our debt and set us free from slavery to sin. And because he is coming again to bring his grand redemption plan to completion.
This sermon is offered as a resource by Living Word Lutheran Brethren Fellowship in Dickinson, North Dakota. It has been lightly edited for the website, but the original tone remains unchanged, and no grammatical revisions or style adjustments have been made.