Many attempts to complete the RMM reading plan have been abandoned in April. Not just because the spring weather brings fresh temptations and distractions, but also because April brings us to the Book of Leviticus – easily the most dreaded book of the Bible for most Evangelical Christians. Every year around this time I field some questions about this difficult and obscure book. Can’t we skip it? Can I just skim through it and pick up the main details? What possible value can this book have to my spiritual life? Sound familiar? Let me offer a little bit of encouragement.
Why Do We Read Leviticus?
1. Because Jesus did not come to abolish the law
Jesus said in his Sermon on the Mount:
17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:17–19 ESV)
It has become increasingly common in the Evangelical church over the last 20 years to hear people talk as though this verse is not in the Bible. Pastors and preachers who give the impression overtly or covertly that the Old Testament is no longer God's Word need to pay very close attention to verse 19 of the this New Testament Scripture. Jesus did not abolish or make obsolete the law or the Torah, rather, he came to fulfill it. That is a totally different concept and it lies at the heart of why we read Leviticus.
2. Because all Scripture is inspired and useful
The Apostle Paul said:
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16–17 ESV)
When Paul said "all Scripture" he was not speaking about the New Testament - the New Testament hadn't even been written yet! He was talking about the Old Testament. He was talking about Psalms, Judges, Malachi, Isaiah and he was talking about Leviticus.
What Are We Supposed To Learn In Leviticus?
Obviously this is not the place for a full-length commentary on a book of the Bible, but let me whet your appetite by highlighting a few things in particular:
1. The sacrificial system prepares us to understand the necessity and meaning of the cross
In your readings last week you heard the Apostle Paul say:
16 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. (Colossians 2:16–17 ESV)
A while back you read in Romans 5:
Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. (Romans 5:14 ESV)
The idea of "typology" is very important in Biblical thought. Old Testament stories or characters or rituals are "types" or anticipations of things to come in fuller form in the time of Christ. They are object lessons that were intended to prepare people to respond to Jesus Christ in faith. Every time people celebrated Passover and ate a lamb whose bones were not broken and remembered the wrath of God passing through their camp and falling on the first born but not falling on them because they were under the blood of the lamb they were being prepared by God to understand the cross. In the cross event the wrath of God passes over all who are under the blood of the lamb and it falls instead on the first-born substitute. That’s the type. In the anti-type (antitype means the ultimate thing being pointed to) the first born substitute is not an Egyptian prince it is the only begotten Son of God. The type prepares us to see the antitype. Likewise throughout Leviticus we are being helped to understand the cross. We see a lamb come forward and we see the high priest put his hand upon him to TRANSFER the sins of the nation to the account of the substitutionary animal. This prepares us for the crucial doctrines of imputation[1] and substitution, without which we can never understand the Gospel.
As such, reading Leviticus provides us with all of the categories and frames of reference necessary to make sense of the cross.
2. Even in Old Testament rituals that are fulfilled in the cross, valuable principles are embedded that must be retained
To say that a thread of typology is fulfilled in Jesus is not to say that those passages are now unnecessary. The Book of Hebrews goes to great lengths to say that now that the sacrificial anticipation has been fulfilled in Jesus Christ it is wrong to long for the return of the routine of animal slaughter. We cannot go back to something once it has been fulfilled. That is why we do not sacrifice goats in church. However, to say that something has been fulfilled is not to say it is no longer useful. All Scripture is inspired and PROFITABLE. These Old Testament shadows and types climax in the work of the cross but they retain many useful and profitable principles that apply today. For example, a while back a member of the church asked me about the washings that are so common in Leviticus. Everybody is washing their hands before entering the tabernacle - what gives? Well Jesus made it clear that ritual hand washing was a type - it was a thing that pointed us forward to Jesus, and that it is not fulfilled, and therefore no longer required. Jesus was frequently criticised by the Pharisees for not requiring ritual washing of his disciples. It was clear that Jesus did not enforce the type, but he did retain the principle. He said in response:
10 And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand: 11 it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” 12 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” 13 He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. 14 Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” 15 But Peter said to him, “Explain the parable to us.” 16 And he said, “Are you also still without understanding? 17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? 18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. (Matthew 15:10–19 ESV)
Jesus considered the usefulness of the type to have expired now that he was physically here and ushering in the new worship in Spirit and truth. However, he was quick to retain the principle and his disciples did not miss the point. Consider the Apostle Paul's careful use of the language and imagery in 2 Corinthians:
Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God. (2 Corinthians 7:1 ESV)
Or consider John's teaching in 1 John 3:
1Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 3And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. (1 John 3:1-3. NKJV)
Lastly, consider James' teaching in James 4:
8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. (James 4:8–10 ESV)
The point is that just as in Leviticus, the closer you wish to draw unto God, the more you need to cleanse yourself, seeking purity though the means of grace he has appointed. The principle still applies. Leviticus is fulfilled in Christ, it is not abolished or made unnecessary. On the contrary, neglect of this book may leave us confused about the cross and in danger of lawlessness and impurity.
Reading Leviticus can be hard but it can also be very helpful. Pray for the Holy Spirit to open your eyes to understand. Ask him to help you see Jesus. Pray for help to see the holiness of God, the sinfulness of humankind and our collective need for Jesus – the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
SDG
Paul Carter
[1] Imputation means that our sins are “put” on the substitute.