Leviticus 25:35-27:34

There is much to think about today for ourselves and for our culture, but let me just say this: Remember Leviticus 26 as we move through the rest of the Scriptures.

Leviticus 23-25:34

Today we read instructions for the appointed feasts of the LORD. (Lev. 23:2) I cannot begin to explore the full meaning of these feasts, what they represent and what they foreshadow. I’ll leave that for a much deeper level of study than we can do here. Instead, I’d simply like us to use these feasts to examine our own hearts.

Honestly consider for a moment your own internal reaction to the instructions for these feasts. How do you receive them? Do you see yet more rules and regulations? Do you hear the voice of a stern Deity demanding particular forms of worship? Or do you hear an invitation to celebrate the goodness of a loving God? It’s all a matter of perspective and attitude.

Now zoom forward to ourselves and consider Christmas and Easter. How do you feel about them? Perhaps more appropriately, how does a child see Christmas and Easter? And how does that compare to your reaction toward the LORD’s instructions for His appointed feasts? Is there a difference? Why?

How about the rest of the liturgical calendar (e.g., Advent, Lent, Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, Pentecost)? What comes to mind when you read or hear “Holy Day”? How about “holiday”? What’s the difference? Why?

The majority of the text regarding the appointed feasts of the LORD describes annual events. But there is another appointed feast that the LORD seems to be even more interested in, and it occurs every week: the Sabbath. (Lev. 23:3) So, since we’re asking questions… For you, personally, how is your Sabbath? Do you see the commandment to rest on the Sabbath as a burden or as a gift?

Leviticus 19-22

There it is in today’s reading. Do you see it? Admittedly, it’s a bit inconspicuous. There are no neon signs pointing the way. There is no thundering voice from heaven, no trumpet call to draw attention. It’s just there in the midst of other rules and regulations. It’s a short little statement, not even a whole verse. It is almost just casually thrown in. Yet it is utterly foundational: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. (Lev. 19:18)

Jesus says that to love the LORD (Deuteronomy 6:4-5) is the greatest commandment and that this commandment to love one’s neighbor is like it, adding, “On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (See Mt. 22:35-40; Mk. 12:28-34; Lk. 10:25-37.) Saint Paul likewise affirms that idea, saying that the whole law is summed up in loving one’s neighbor. (Rom. 13:9; Gal. 5:14)

Sometimes the most important things in life are hidden away in plain sight, lost in the midst of other details. So it is here. How easy it would be to miss this second greatest commandment! We need to pay attention. We need to diligently search for truth and wisdom, as for treasure. We need to rely on the guidance of the Holy Spirit and to truly seek the heart of God as we read through the Scriptures.

In noting our need to search for hidden gems, let’s not miss the actual commandment: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Let me just say that it is much more challenging to love the person next to me — my neighbor — than it is to convince myself that I love everyone. Loving “all those people out there” is easy. They are all just imaginary. Or maybe I can just write a check to support some distant program. Truly loving my annoying neighbor, though, whose dog barks in the middle of the night and poops in my yard, well, that’s a different story…

Leviticus 15-18

Today we are once again confronted by God’s holiness — and His grace. Remember the structure of the Tabernacle’s Tent of Meeting. It is divided into two sections, the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place (or the “Holy of Holies”). The Most Holy Place lies behind a thick veil and contains the Ark of the Covenant. Atop the Ark is the Mercy Seat, where God figuratively “sits.” Only the priests are allowed inside the Tent of Meeting, and they have daily duties within the Holy Place. But no one is to enter the Most Holy Place except the High Priest (Aaron) on one single day of each year, the Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur.

I think we modern Westerners tend to see all this as overly harsh and restrictive on God’s part. Only the High Priest? And only one day a year? Surely Moses got it wrong! But that is the voice of arrogance, not humility. If we think about it honestly, what is truly remarkable here is that the LORD allows any access whatsoever, and furthermore, in that access, He makes provision for atonement, for cleansing. But the atonement of Yom Kippur is merely a foreshadowing of the full Atonement that Christ makes with His own blood on the Cross, at which point the veil in the Temple is torn from top to bottom. (Mt. 27:51; Mk. 15:38; Lk. 23:45)

So when you think to approach God, remember that it is not your right to do so. It is His gift to you, bought at the price of the Cross.

Leviticus 13-14

Today we see the LORD’s care for the people of Israel expressed in very practical terms: disease control and prevention. With our recent experience of the COVID-19 pandemic, the notion of testing an individual for disease and then declaring that person “clean” or “unclean” sounds remarkably familiar. Both then and now, isolating the contagious person serves to protect the broader community from infection.

Note that here “clean” and “unclean” do not carry any moral implications. That is, there is no sin in being “unclean.” Obviously, “clean” (healthy) is better than “unclean” (unhealthy), but it is not a character issue (at least not here). Nevertheless, conforming to the restrictions imposed on the “unclean” is a character issue — just like how crashing a party while actively carrying COVID would be bad behavior.

That’s a bit of what I see in these chapters. How about you? What do you notice? Does anything strike you as interesting? Please share your thoughts with the rest of us.

Leviticus 10-12

For I am the LORD who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.

Leviticus 11:45

This command (or promise!) for the people of Israel to “be holy, for I am holy” is given (in one form or another) five times in Leviticus. (See Lev. 11:44, 11:45, 19:2, 20:7, 20:26.) It is also repeated specifically for priests in Lev. 21:8. God’s desire for holiness in His people pervades this book, and it lies at the core of today’s reading.

The priests have a responsibility to be particularly holy, set apart from the common people, but Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, step out of line and do their own thing, offering “unauthorized” (or “strange” or “profane”) fire before the LORD. (I am not exactly sure what that means, but I am quite sure that it is not just an “honest mistake”.) The LORD makes an example of them, and they pay for their unholy action with their lives. The LORD says, “Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.”

Holiness is not just for the priests, though. God wants the entire nation to be distinctive, set apart from all the nations around them — just as He is set apart from all else. Israel is to behave differently, and that distinctiveness is to run through practically every aspect of life. We see that in the regulations for the “clean” and the “unclean”, emphasizing over and over again that God draws distinctions.

We are similarly called to holiness. We are not to be conformed to the world around us, continuing to do things our own way. As Saint Peter tells us:

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

I Peter 1:14-16

So what does that look like for us? Are we to take on the Kosher dietary laws? Are we to consider new mothers to be “unclean”? And all the rest? No, but perhaps we need to think long and hard about our lives, and as we move through the Scriptures we can ask the Holy Spirit to reveal how we need to change so that we might indeed be “set apart” from the world. One thing is sure: holiness is not an option. As God’s children we are all called to be holy. And the reason for us is the same as it was for Israel: “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

Leviticus 6:8-9:24

Fire shall be kept burning on the altar continually; it shall not go out.

Leviticus 6:13

Keep the fire burning. That’s a fairly straightforward and practical command. But let’s think about what it entails in real terms. First, we need wood for fuel, preferably dry and decently trimmed to facilitate handling. That means gathering, chopping, stacking, maybe covering the wood to keep it dry — a fair amount of work well before the wood reaches the fire. Once the wood is on the fire, it needs to be tended and stoked. And additional wood must be placed on the fire periodically to keep it going, over and over again. All in all, this simple command requires preparation, vigilance, and continual effort, day in and day out.

Now suppose for a moment that this altar fire is your life with Christ. How do you keep that fire going? It takes effort. It takes diligence. It takes dedication. It’s daily prayer, Bible reading, and study. (RTB!) It’s not a one-time “flash” of repentance. It’s an ongoing process, day in and day out.

Keep your fire burning.

Leviticus 1-6:7

Let me state the obvious: we no longer practice animal sacrifice, or even grain offerings, for that matter. Nor do we stand in the place of Aaron and his sons, priests responsible for carrying out these rituals. But that is not to say that there is nothing here for us to learn. On the contrary, there are numerous important lessons here. Let me just name a few.

First, we need to understand the deadly seriousness of sin, even unintentional sin. Sacrifices help paint that picture. If animal sacrifice, with all its blood and gore turns your stomach, good. It should. It is a graphic portrayal of the consequences of sin, transferred from the sinner (the responsible party) to an innocent victim. With sin, God never just lets it slide. Atonement must be made.

Second, we need to appreciate God’s merciful provision for atonement for sin. The LORD does not leave the Israelites stuck with the guilt of their sin. He provides these rituals as a path to atonement, to restore right relationship between Himself and the sinner. And let’s not forget that He provides the animals, too.

Third, we need to understand that God is the One Who sets the rules. We are not free to just “wing it” with Him, as much as that might run against our modern Protestant sensibilities. No, we need to walk in humility and accept His direction — and not demand that He accept our direction.

Finally, a spoiler alert: In the end, Jesus Christ is both our High Priest and the ultimate Victim. All these sacrifices and rituals point to Him and find their true fulfilment in Him. (See the entire book of Hebrews, but especially Heb. 8:1-10:14.)

Exodus 38-40

Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.

Exodus 40:34

In obedience to the LORD’s instructions to Moses, the people of Israel finish the work of assembling the Tabernacle and all its associated items. When everything is set up and consecrated, the Tabernacle receives the LORD’s seal of approval: the glory of the LORD fills the Tabernacle. The LORD effectively “takes up residence” in the Tabernacle, and the display of glory provides a physical manifestation of the LORD’s presence. It is a visible sign of the LORD’s earlier promise to dwell with them:

I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. I am the LORD their God.

Exodus 29:45-46

Of course we know that — unlike an idol — the LORD is not physically confined to the Tabernacle. He remains omnipresent. Yet He chooses here to designate the Tabernacle as holy, as a special focal point of interface between Himself and Israel. Filling the Tabernacle with the glory of the LORD confirms that choice.

I’m guessing that none of us has encountered the glory of the LORD in quite the same way as the Israelites do here. We may even be tempted to be envious of their experience. But the truth is that they might well envy us:

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:14

Let’s recognize that truth today and live it out.