The Book of Leviticus is the third of the first five books of the Bible attributed to Moses. Moses received the Law from God after the Children of Israel left Egypt in order to worship God at Mount Sinai. The Book presents God’s plan for His people to approach Him in worship in a prescribed, holy manner. And so, the book describes the functions of the priesthood that will make this approach both reverent and holy. Although the book contains regulations about proper diet, purification of the priesthood, and ritual laws for sacrificial rites, there are three primary themes that are related to each other and woven throughout the book. These themes are Holiness, Sacrifice, and Atonement.
Holiness occurs when someone is obedient to all of God’s commands. God’s demand for holiness in His people is based on His own holy nature. Living in Egypt as slaves for over 400 years, their concept of God had been distorted by the polytheism of the Egyptians, and they would also face a myriad of other pagan religions once they entered the land of Canaan. And so, the primary purpose of Leviticus is to provide instruction and laws that will allow them to have a relationship with a holy God, the One who brought them out of Egypt. In order to have such a relationship, they had to be holy, just as God declared Himself holy, which is emphasized throughout the Book of Leviticus (Lev. 19:2; 20:7; 20:26; 21:8).
Sacrifice is essential because even though God requires holiness, no one is holy before God. We have all sinned and stand guilty of disobedience before God, and sin can only be removed by offering an acceptable sacrifice, which by definition, is a costly gift that is given to God. What is that “costly” gift? It is the gift of “life” which is taken from a pure and innocent victim offered in the place of the guilty worshiper. In a representative way, the Israelite worshipper was offering his own life through the blood of the sacrificial animal.
Atonement is the satisfaction of a debt that is owed; a payment for an offence committed before God, and that offence is summarized by one word, “sin.” When God sees an acceptable sacrifice that is offered, then He, in turn forgives and covers the sin of the one who offers the sacrifice. The Book of Hebrews in the New Testament that while the sacrifice was intended to remove the “guilt” of sin, it never could. Only Christ can do that.
Combining these three concepts, we find the following two verses as the most important in the Book of Leviticus. Here is God’s instruction, given to Moses, for the Israelites to find atonement for their sins,
“He is to lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him” (Lev. 1:4).
The reason that atonement is granted in this manner is provided a little later in the Book,
“For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life” (Lev. 17:11).
Many of the ritualistic practices of worship are a picture of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The writer of the Book of Hebrews in the New Testament tells us that the Mosaic Law is “only a shadow of the good things that are coming” (Heb. 10:1). By this statement, the writer was saying that the daily sacrifices offered by the priests for the sin of the people were a representation of the ultimate Sacrifice—Jesus Christ, whose sacrifice would be once for all time for those who would put their faith and trust in Him for the forgiveness of sins. The holiness imparted temporarily by the Law would one day be replaced by the absolute attainment of holiness when Christians exchanged their sin for the righteousness of Christ. As the Apostle Paul said,
“He (God) made Him (Jesus) who knew no son to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21).
Because of Jesus’ death on our behalf, we no longer have to offer animal sacrifices. Leviticus is all about substitution. The death of animals was a substitute penalty for those who have sinned. In the same way, but infinitely better, the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross was the substitute for our sins. Now we can stand before a holy God without fear because He sees in us the righteousness of Christ.
I hope that this helps you to understand the Book of Leviticus. Do you remember the three themes of the Book: Holiness, Sacrifice, and Atonement? Well, they all pointed to Jesus, as He became the perfect SACRIFICE on the cross to ATONE FOR OUR SINS in order to make us HOLY or RIGHTEOUS before God. We can apply His sacrifice for sins to our own lives by simply asking Him to do so. If you haven’t yet done so, I pray that you will do it today.
