Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Bangalore

Introduction to Leviticus

Today we begin a book that has stopped more people from reading the entire Bible than any other. People start with Genesis, with its nice stories, and the first part of Exodus with its very dramatic 10 plagues. Then you come to Leviticus, and you read about different offerings, rituals, diet, and skin diseases. The verses seem so strange to our times. We’ve never met a person with leprosy and aren’t overly interested in the exact way of examining a head scalp sore or the color of a hair—white or black. If you are reading in the morning, you might try with two or three cups of coffee, but your mind is still not working. After reading a few chapters, your interest in reading the Bible evaporates, and that’s the end of your resolution to read through the Bible. Isn’t that right?

I think that is the experience of many. Yes, it is a difficult book. In fact, in our over 15 years of ministry, our mornings focused on the New Testament and our evenings on the Old Testament. We went through Genesis, Exodus 20, skipped Leviticus, and started Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, and 2 Samuel. All of the sermons on the Old Testament that go verse by verse, chapter by chapter, are stored on our website. When I was going through Exodus, I was frankly a little scared to start Leviticus, so I skipped it at that time.

By the providence of God, I plan to start a study on Leviticus in the evenings. I am aware that some of you may not share my present enthusiasm for this series through the Book of Leviticus. I’m trying to get you interested, much like my wife trying to get me interested in a shopping trip—19 years, and she still hasn’t accomplished that yet. People may even make fun of me, asking if this is really needed. “Pastor, okay, you want to study. You finished 2 Samuel, so let us continue on with 1 Kings. Why go back to Leviticus?” I want to give you not just one reason, but seven reasons for this. I not only want to answer all of your objections but also wet your appetite and make you as eager to study as I am. If anyone asks me next year why I am studying Leviticus, I will tell them to listen to my first sermon. Okay.

Seven Reasons to Study Leviticus

I want to wet your appetite and make you eager to study.

1. When you see big statues like the Statue of Liberty or the Statue of Unity, do you know that those statues stand on a large pedestal that is stronger than the statue itself? This foundational pedestal holds the statue in a strong grip, making it stand tall and strong. Otherwise, it would bend and slowly fall. Most of us think about the Bible, and we think about the great towering texts of the Bible. We think about the gospels, the cross of Christ, and the great books that explain the work of Christ, such as Romans, Ephesians, and Hebrews. But do you know that all of those texts stand tall on a foundational pedestal? The truths of these texts will be strongly grasped and implanted in your heart in an unshakable way only when you grasp the foundational pedestal passages. Without these pedestal books, our grip on those truths will be very superficial. Just as without a pedestal, those tall statues can’t withstand strong winds and storms, you will not be able to hold the glory of those texts high and believe in them strongly during storms of trials, doubts, and winds of life if you don’t have a grasp of the solid foundation passages. Many of the great New Testament truths are based on the pedestal of this lowly book of Leviticus. Many of the New Testament books and passages will become so clear and confirming once you understand Leviticus.

2. The second reason is that as we become Bible readers and finish one year, you can read all other books by yourself and get some message. But before it comes, you feel scared and tired of the Book of Leviticus. But after this study, with God’s help, you will eagerly want to come to Leviticus, and every chapter will be so clear when you read it. It is just like now people tell me, “Pastor, you taught Genesis to 2 Samuel, and now reading it, how several lessons God brings to our mind when we read it.” The reason Leviticus seems so confusing is that it is like going into a car manufacturing factory without a guide. We go and all we see is different activities. We are very disturbed by the noise of grinding, hammering, and machines running, and we see different people doing different things. We are very confused about why they are doing that and what they are doing. But when a guide comes and takes us step by step through each department and activity and tells us what each department is doing and how it is all related to one another, and then step by step brings us to the showroom, we will be in awe. “Wow, now it is so clear!” In the same way, after this study, I will help you understand Leviticus like a guide, and it will become an awesome and very interesting book to you.

3. There are rich treasures in this book that you will find nowhere else. Just as the spies saw the land flowing with milk and honey, when I spied this, I can see that this is a land flowing with rich theological milk and honey. If you don’t read this, you will miss it. Remember, in all Scripture, 2 Timothy 3 says that it is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness so that the man of God may be adequate for every good work. All Scripture has a work that will have an effect in our lives. I believe that this book will have a peculiar effect that no other book could.

4. I don’t know about you, but as soon as you finish reading this book with difficulty, what is your feeling? Even though you didn’t understand most of it, my feeling has always been, “How holy we should be as God’s people, right?” Just a superficial reading, and I always have that feeling. This book, more than any other, will help you grow in holiness.

5. Did you know that the Book of Leviticus has more direct words of God than any other book? You know how in your New Testament, some of you have red-letter editions where the words of the Lord Jesus are all in red. If there were a red-letter edition of the Old Testament where the words of Jehovah himself would be all in red, the book of Leviticus would be the reddest of all the books in the Bible. The book repeatedly says that these are the very words God gave and spoke to Moses from the tent of meeting. The phrase “Then the Lord spoke to Moses” is repeated again and again 56 times in the 27 chapters of Leviticus. The contents are not just inspired by the Holy Spirit, but they are a direct revelation from the mind of the living God. And therefore, when we take this Book of Leviticus and hold it in our hands, what do we have? We have the very word of God spoken directly to Moses.

6. The New Testament itself directly cites or refers to the Book of Leviticus over 100 times, and there are countless other indirect allusions. So much of the New Testament truth will become clear, especially the Book of Hebrews.

7. We studied the mark of Christian rejoicing in Jesus Christ. You will see as we read the glory of Christ and his work so marvelously shown in this book in those early times. Think of it, this is the third book of the Bible—a very early revelation, in the crawling stages, written over 3,500 years ago, that so richly shows the coming Messiah and his work. These are primitive sketches of our Lord Jesus Christ that are drawn in this book. They are sketches that are very, very profound, so that this book may be fittingly entitled not merely “Leviticus” but “The Gospel According to Leviticus.”

In the providence of God, today is the day we will break ground on an extended series with the help of God. I am sure your souls will drink in this milk and honey and become spiritually nourished and strong.

An Introduction to the Book: Historical Context and Central Theme

As an entrance to the book, let’s look at a few background details, starting with the historical context. Leviticus is found connected with history. As we open the first book of Genesis, God created the world, man fell, sin multiplied, and God brought a flood. After the flood, sin grew strong again as there was a wholesale defiance of the sovereign name of the living God that climaxed at Babel. Man, thinking they were civilized, resolved that they would build a city and make a name for themselves. God, in his mercy, confounded their language and multiplied tongues. It was an act of mercy because if God had just allowed it, mankind’s sin would have increased and become more heinous than before the flood, and God may have had to bring a greater judgment. Separated and distinct, men could not be as heinous and as wicked as they would be as a unit. So, God scattered mankind all over the face of the earth as men went to the four corners of the earth.

After the flood and after Babel, the world was full of darkness. Yet, God in his mercy, shined a torch light on a man called Abram. He chose Abram and revealed himself. In the whole dark world, there was a tiny flame of true religion. God promised to bring a nation through him that would be as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sands on the seashore. We know the rest of the Genesis story: Abraham, Isaac born in old age, Jacob, Joseph going to Egypt, and the whole family going to Egypt at the end of Genesis.

As we come to Exodus, there was a vast nation of Hebrew slaves in Goshen. God delivered the crying nation from their bondage through a colossal display of 10 plagues that broke the jaw of Egypt’s pride and made Pharaoh bow down. God made them cross the Red Sea and brought them to Mount Sinai, where God gave his blessed law to the people of God through thunder and lightning. God cut a covenant with the nation and vowed to personally dwell among his people as he made provision. God came into a covenant relationship.

But you know, these people sinned with the golden calf, and God’s holy anger was upon them. This covenant relationship was damaged by their sin. The question is, how can sinful, guilty Israel be reconciled to a holy God? Leviticus shows us how God graciously provides a way for sinful, corrupt people to live in his holy presence.

In chapters 25 through 40 of the Book of Exodus, we read about the building of the tabernacle. It says in Exodus 30, verse 34, that “When the cloud covered the tent and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle, and Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle, the God of creation, the God of redemption, was now dwelling among his people.”

And thus, the Book of Leviticus opens. Leviticus is really just an extension of the Book of Exodus. Verse 1 says, “Then the Lord called to Moses and spoke to him from that same tent of meeting.” God had drawn near to his people, and his dwelling was among them. Now, to ensure that Jehovah would be sanctified among them, God taught the people how they could live in the presence of a holy God. For approximately 40 days, God gave instructions to Moses as to all of the activities and the motions that would take place around the Tabernacle, determining how men ought to dwell in his presence and how men ought to draw near to him in worship. There are specific details given for 40 days on how men were to move, live, and approach God while he was in their camp. That is the historical context of the Book of Leviticus.

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Having seen the historical context of Leviticus, let’s go to the central theme of Leviticus. The book itself states the goal and central theme of this book in chapter 20, verse 26: “And you shall be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine.” The central theme of Leviticus is one word: holiness. God is among us. How should we live? How should we approach him? The Hebrew word is kodas.

The central theme of holiness has a two-pronged meaning. First of all, and most strikingly, holiness means separation. God is presented as holy, which means that God is set apart, or there is a wide gulf between him and sinful men and all of his creation and creatures. He is unique, independent, and in a different class. He is different from sinners. Man is dying every day, but God is full of life. Man is weak; he is almighty. Man is sad, and God is full of joy. Man is defiled; God is pure. There is a wide, infinite gulf, as God is set apart from all of us. When God is holy, the place surrounding him is holy, separate from all creation and sins.

When you consider the Tabernacle itself, that theme of God’s holiness is profoundly depicted. In Numbers 2 and 3, there is a map drawn out concerning the configuration of how the Tabernacle was to be set up. The Tabernacle is set in the center and is surrounded by a large space and a wall. Outside the compound, we find that in the North, South, East, and West, there are the 12 tribes—Dan, Asher, Issachar, Judah, all the way around—and in the middle of them is the Tabernacle of the Living God.

But there is a profound sense of separation between God and all the tribes because there is to be a band of one tribe that insulates God from the rest of the tribes. What tribe is that? The tribe of Levi. But then there is more separation. We find at the east side of the Tabernacle, which is where the door is, the entrance, there is a peculiar brand of Levites who are to be here, and who are they? The priests and the line of Aaron. So, God is set apart from the nation as a whole. Really, God is set apart from all the nations, then set apart from the nation of Israel, and then, with the Levites, the priestly tribe, he is set apart even from them.

Set apartness does not end there. Once you come to the Tabernacle, there is the outer court, but God was not yet there. There was to be cleansing. Then one would come into the court, but God was not yet there. Then one would come into the Holy Place, but God was not yet there. Ah, then one would come into the Holy of Holies, and in the Ark of the Covenant was the manifestation of the living God. The 10 words, 10 commands, the Decalogue. Do these circles and all this insulation from the outside not indicate that God is a holy God? God is set apart from sinful man, profoundly so. So, we see that the concept of holiness is the concept of separation. God is separated.

Now the question is, how can sinful Israel live among God and enjoy God’s blessings? They also need to become holy, and sin has to be dealt with. The amazing Book of Leviticus shows how God graciously deals with all of our defects of our depravity and our sin problem and makes a way for us to live in the presence of the living God as holy people.

Now, God’s people are to be holy, as God is holy, in that they too are to be separated from the nations around them, and this is a striking theme in Leviticus. It graphically teaches holiness: “You are therefore to make a distinction between the clean animal and unclean animals, birds, in the way you eat and live. You have to be holy, separated from the unclean. Thus you shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am Holy; I have set you apart from other peoples.” “I know that all peoples can touch certain kinds of animals, but not you. You want to be different. You want to be distinct. You want to be set apart because I have set you apart from the nations.” So, one distinct thing about holiness is the theme of separation. God’s people ought to be different than the people around them.

“26 And you shall be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine.”

But the second prong of holiness, having seen separation, is the theme of imitation. We find that the people of God, when they ask, “What are we to do? What are we to be like?” are told one thing: to be separate from the people around, as God is separate, but also we are to be like God in that we are to imitate God. Notice what it says in Leviticus chapter 19, beginning at verse 2, as the Lord again spoke to Moses saying, “Speak to all the congregation of the Sons of Israel and say to them, ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.'” “Lord, you want us to be separate and distinct from the nations around, not to live their lifestyles?” “Yes, that’s right. Have separation as a principle, but also have imitation as a principle.” Notice the list then of principles that come. In verse 3, how are we to be holy? “Everyone of you shall reverence his father and his mother.” Well, that’s the fifth commandment. “And you shall keep my sabbaths.” That’s the fourth commandment. Verse 4: “Do not turn to items or make for yourself more than gods.” Well, that’s the second commandment. Notice verse 11: “You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another.” There are the eighth and ninth commandments. And in verse 12: “You shall not swear falsely by my name. And do not profane the name of your God.” That’s the third commandment.

So how are we to be holy? First, turn from the nations around; don’t live like the world. Separate from the nations; turn your back. Then, in the front, follow and imitate the character of God. What is the character of God? Come with me into the Holy of Holies; open the Ark of the Covenant. The 10 words. That’s the character of God. The 10 commandments are the character of God.

“Be holy by imitating me. And by separating yourself from the nations round about.” So that is the central theme of holiness. God’s people are not only to live separate lives from the evil nations, but they’re also to imitate their God, taking as the paradigm of all of their life the moral excellence of God’s character found in his law, which, by the way, is permanent and perpetual. Does God’s character change? No, the God of Israel changes not. All ten are perpetual principles of God’s character. So that then is the central theme of Leviticus: holiness.

Explanation of Holiness

Some of us have such a wrong understanding of holiness that we turn off when we hear this. What picture comes into your mind when you hear holiness? Maybe seriousness, grimness, no joy, no fun, as though holy people are weird, peculiar individuals. This is the wrong idea of that. Holiness was not attractive to me at all; it repelled me. Scripture uses the phrase “the beauty of holiness” (1 Chronicles 16:29, 2 Chronicles 20:21, Psalms 29:2, 96:2). I asked myself, “What in the world is beautiful about holiness?” Until I understood biblically with context what it means, it became a beautiful word. When I found out, I agreed that holiness is indeed a beautiful thing.

One preacher, beautifully explains this. The original word for holiness is from a very attractive English word: wholeness. So that holiness means “wholeness,” being complete. We all know what wholeness is. It is to have all the parts that were intended to be there together and to have them functioning as they were intended to function.

When God talks about holiness, that is what God is talking about. He says to his people, “You shall be whole, because I am whole.” God is complete; he is perfect. There is no blemish in God; he lives in harmony with himself. He is a beautiful person. He is absolutely what a person ought to be. He is filled with joy and love and peace. He lives in wholeness. And he looks at us in our brokenness and says to us, “You, too, shall be whole.”

That word wholeness has the power to awaken desire within us. We long to be whole people, don’t you? Don’t you want to be what God made you to be, with all the ingredients of your personality able to be expressed in balance? That is to be a beautiful person, and that is what God is after. That is what the book of Leviticus is all about. It is a book that will make you whole.

To realize our great need, we need to realize that we are not whole. We are damaged. Our soul and body faculties are terribly damaged, like a crashed car. In Eden, man lost his way. He was made in the image and likeness of God. When man first came from the hand of God, he was whole. Adam functioned as God intended man to function. He was functioning in the image and the likeness of God.

After the great fall, we have lost that likeness. We still have the image, but the likeness is gone. Every man feels this lack. All of Adam’s children cry, “Oh, where is the life I have lost?”

Isn’t that the question so many millions are asking today: “Where is the life I have lost in trying to live? Why don’t I know the way out? How come I am so uptight, so hurting, so broken?”

We are so aware of our own brokenness, of our lack of wholeness. We know how much we hurt ourselves and each other. We are aware of our inability to cope with life. We sometimes put up a big facade and try to bluff our way through as though we are able to handle anything. But inside, half the time, we are running scared. That is a mark of our lack of wholeness.

We also know our diabolical power to irritate, to enrage, and to inflame others—and ourselves. But this great statement in Leviticus 20:26 declares that God knows all about human brokenness and hurt. He knows that we are out of that way. He sees this in sharp contrast to his own wholeness. And his love reaches out and says to us, “You shall be whole; for I am whole.” “That is my purpose,” he declares to his people. God determines to heal man’s brokenness and to make man whole again. And he knows how to do it—he says so: “You shall be whole; for I am whole.”

This is a process that takes infinite patience and love, because God never makes us holy forcefully. It has to be an act of free will. It is voluntary—God never forces us into it. It can occur only to those who trust God enough to respond to his love.

We are like fearful birds. Imagine a hurt animal or bird. When we want to apply medicine and feed them, they don’t come near us. They are so scared that we will catch them and hurt them. They come and stand, think, hesitate, and one sound, they suddenly run away. That strikes me as such an apt picture of what God contends with in reaching out toward man. Man is scared. “Oh, if I come, will he catch and hurt me? More so, will he make me holy?” It takes infinite patience and love to impart the necessary understanding to fearful, hurting men and women like us.

That is why God gave us this book. He starts in kindergarten with us. He starts with pictures and shadows, with visual aids, in order to show us what he is going to do someday. All the ceremonies and offerings of the Old Testament are shadows and pictures of Jesus Christ. So Christ is here in the book of Leviticus. God shows us, through his people Israel, his way of healing human hurt. This is God’s way to wholeness.

To those early days—infant revelation—the way they saw him was through these pictures. Thus, as they understood what these pictures depict and laid hold of that, they came to the same joy and peace that we have.

If you do not believe that, then read the Psalms and see how much David understood of the presence and the grace of God in his life. He was a man who was healed by God. He came to understand that God was his strength and his very life, and that God could meet every need of his heart and work out all the tangled relationships in his family and in his personal life. He reflects all this in the Psalms he wrote.

So, the first two steps for the process are: First step to make you whole is separation. “I have separated you from the peoples.” It is a process of separation. The reason we are so broken is that we are involved in a broken race. Our attitudes are wrong. Our vision of life is twisted and distorted. We believe illusions and lies, take them to be facts, and act upon them. We are following phantoms and fantasies and delusions. So, God must separate us. He has to break us loose from conformity to the thought patterns and the attitudes and reactions of those around us. He has to deliver us from all that, straighten out our thinking, set our minds and hearts aright, and correct our tangled, fouled relationships.

The second step is to follow him, learn his thoughts, see what he teaches, and follow him. Do not conform to world, but be transformed in your mind by its renewal.

Leviticus, then, is full of Christ. All the sacrifices, the rituals, the ceremonies, and all the rest pictorially describe Jesus Christ and his work, and how he was available to men and women then. And as we read this book from our vantage point on this side of the cross, we will learn a great deal about how Jesus Christ can meet our needs now. Therefore, this is not just a historical book. It isn’t just for Jews. It is a tremendously practical manual on how to live as a Christian. We will see this as we go along.

But there is even more. When you read the book of Leviticus and understand what it is saying, it will help you to understand yourself. All the work of Jesus Christ was to meet our greatest needs as depraved sinners. So, as you read this book, you will understand more about yourself and about what your great, crying needs are, and about how you operate.

We are a mystery to ourselves. We don’t even understand how we think. We are baffled by our own experience. Don’t you feel that way? Remember the way Paul expresses this in Romans 7: “The good things that I want to do I cannot do; and the evil things that I don’t want to do are what I do,” (Romans 7:19 RSV). This is a picture of life. It is a very penetrating, probing analysis of what is going on in your life and mine. This is what the book of Leviticus will show us—the reasons why, the understanding of ourselves. It is designed to meet the hurt of man, just where we are. And as we learn how to accept the healing of God, it will show us what we can be.

So let us start the Leviticus journey!