Observations from Leviticus Part I

“You are to practice my ordinances and you are to keep my statues by following them; I am the Lord your God.  Keep my statues and ordinances; a person will live if he does, I am the Lord” ~Leviticus 18:4

Reading through Leviticus can be daunting because God is handing down the Law to Moses.  He gives detailed instructions about the different offerings dealing with sin and how the people are to interact with each other.  In reading I cannot help but to be overwhelmed with the seriousness of sin.  Sin being rebellion against God and his established order.  The first few chapters in and I can sense God not wanting the people to take sin lightly.  The painful reality with all the sacrifices for various sins, intentional or unintentional, is death.  Something dies when we sin and in Leviticus it is either the person committing the sin or an animal to atone for the offense.

This process is brutal and bloody and though I am at first repulsed by the actions being described—then a profound thought suddenly settles on my heart.  My savior suffered. I start to think about the prophet Isaiah who wrote “But He was pierced because of our transgressions, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on Him, and we are healed by His wounds. We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the LORD has punished Him for the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:5-6 HCSB)

Jesus was crushed because of my sin, because of my rebellion and we read “Yet the LORD was pleased to crush Him severely” (Isaiah 53:10a) God was pleased to crush him, why?  “For the wages of sin is death”, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23 HCSB) It was by the crushing of Jesus I am forgiven and my sin is erased. This had nothing to do with me being a good person or any form of merit, but was by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ.  In reading Leviticus I am seeing God laying down the requirements for dealing with the seriousness of sin.  I am witness the process for which he would use to free his people once and for all through his Son Jesus Christ.  He is laying down the framework for freedom.    

In reading this I hope you will consider the seriousness of your sin and grasp the great lengths God went to in demonstrating his love for you through the cross.