Leviticus is about Jesus

Leviticus is about Jesus

LEVITICUS 1
Leviticus 1 begins almost immediately talking about the requirements for a sacrifice to be acceptable to God.  This applies entirely and completely to the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.  He must be flawless and He will make atonement for the people. After the animal has been sacrifice, His blood must be splashed against the altar as a sign of the covenant between man and God: innocent blood for the atonement of man’s sin.  Leviticus 1 is about the sufficiency of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus.

LEVITICUS 2
Leviticus 2 starts by proclaiming that sacrifices must be the best of the best.  The wheat and bread must be “choice” wheat and bread.  Jesus was the Bread of Life.  He was the best wheat.  Before it can be sacrifice, it must be covered in oil, much like Jesus was anointed by the prostitute.  Because He was prepared right, the Lord Jesus became the most fragrant offering to the Lord.  In this way, Leviticus 2 is about the fulfillment of the Levitical sacrifice through Jesus.

LEVITICUS 3: JESUS THE PEACE OFFERING
Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the tradition of the “peace offering” from Leviticus 3.  The people ended their religious rituals with a peace offering, in which only the fat of the animal was sacrificed.  The meat was then consumed by all the people before the Lord in a great meal as a sign of the covenant between God and His people.  Jesus tells His followers that if they are to continue following Him, they must eat of His flesh and drink of His blood.  In saying this, Jesus was labeling Himself as the peace offering.  The fact that this sacrifice, with the meal, was put at the end of the worship ceremonies is also incredible.  Jesus likes meals with His people.  The fall of human history came when man chose to eat a meal (an apple) with the enemy of God.  Jesus is often found eating with His disciples, as well as other people who wished to know Him.  And in the end, the people of God will be reunited with Him at the great Wedding Supper of the Lamb.  Jesus is the final peace offering.  Leviticus 3 is about Jesus.

LEVITICUS 4: JESUS THE SIN OFFERING
Jesus is the fulfillment of the sin offering, made for the atonement of the people, corporately and/or individually.  As with all other sacrifices, the Lord demands that the sin offering come from a spotless animal.  For sin offerings, the Lord chooses a spotless sheep.  The high priest must place his hands on the sheep and cast the sin to be atoned for upon the sheep.  Then the sheep is to be slaughtered and its blood is to be sprinkled in the presence of the Lord.  It is only by the blood of the sheep that sin is atoned for.  The same is true for Jesus.  He was the spotless Lamb of God, the only One qualified to fully and finally atone for the sin of man.  In the Garden of Gethsemane, the sin of the world was put upon Him and He was taken to be killed, to die on a cross in the presence of the Father.  As the blood flowed down the cross, the sins of the world were paid for.  As He died, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, symbolizing that the sin of man was forever paid for by the death of Jesus.  People would no longer have to make sacrifices for their sin because Jesus paid for it all, even the sins of future generations.  Jesus became the eternal High Priest who constantly intercedes on our behalf.  Jesus was and is the full and final sin offering for the people of God.  Leviticus 4 is about Jesus Christ, crucified for the sin of the world.

LEVITICUS 5
Jesus is the final sacrifice for sin.  Leviticus 5 is full of different sins and the sacrifices that must be made for atonement.  This law was instituted by God for the purpose of being replaced and fulfilled by Jesus’ death on the cross.  Leviticus 5 should remind us of the fact that Jesus is the proper sacrifice for all of our sins: past, present, future, know, unknown, intentional, and unintentional.  The Lord foresaw our hearts and our motives and, knowing that our intentions were evil, He designed the Law in such a way as to be incomplete and lacking.  This was done so that when Jesus came, He would become the One Hope that all humanity had to cling to for the chance of salvation.  For the Law only shows us our sin and condemns us.  Jesus pays the Law’s due penalty for us, and sets us free to live a life glorifying Him.  Leviticus 5 is about Jesus.

LEVITICUS 6
Leviticus 6 sets a new precedent for priests.  The Lord commands His priests that they must give everything (as opposed to the small portion required from others) in order to make a sacrifice for sin.  This standard took great faith as it caused the priests to rely even more heavily upon God’s grace.  This practice is never better exemplified than through Jesus Christ, the Eternal and Heavenly High Priest.  No other priest gave of himself so completely as Jesus did.  The Most Holy High Priest not only gave all He had on this earth, including His life, He also abdicated His rich heavenly throne in order to come to the earth and be beaten and murdered by His people, for His people.  When Leviticus 6 was written down, Jesus already knew that He would fulfill it far beyond what anyone else would ever do.  He already knew that He would die a horrific, bloody, painful death by beating and crucifixion.  Jesus knew that He would complete the Law in the most extreme way.  Leviticus 6 is about Jesus.

LEVITICUS 7
Jesus is found in Leviticus 7.  Obviously, He was our sacrifice, not just for peace, but for all things that require sacrifice.  These things He accomplished.  He knew that He would become like the sacrifices made in Leviticus 7.  Surely when He read from the Law, He thought, “I shall be that sacrifice.”  This is confirmed when Jesus tells His followers that if they are to partake in Him, they must “eat of [His] flesh.”  This is a hard and strange teaching, but when we look at it through the lens of Leviticus 7, it becomes much clearer.  Jesus was not calling for cannibalism; rather, He was identifying Himself as the great sacrifice for the people of God.  If we look closely at the Peace Offering from Leviticus 7, there are some things we should note.  First, the peace offering is only good for two days after it is sacrificed.  Second, if the meat of the Peace Offering touches anything unclean, it too becomes unclean.  Third, because it is a “clean” thing, a person must already be ceremonially clean in order to partake of it.  But Jesus is the superior and final Peace Offering.  First, He never expires.  He is not like simple meat that He spoils after a day.  Jesus is infinite and is available until the Day of Judgment.  Second, Jesus is supreme in that He can never be made unclean.  Jesus touched the dead, mingled with sinners, and walked with lepers.  Yet He remained holy and pure before God.  Third, Jesus took the sin of mankind away.  He is our expiation: like the goat sent into the wilderness, Jesus takes our sin away from us.  Thus we are clean, able to approach Him, to partake in the meal of His flesh, and to receive the peace of the offering.  Leviticus 7 is about Jesus.

LEVITICUS 8
In Leviticus 8, we see Moses, Aaron, and Aaron’s sons coming before the Lord.  They have come to consecrate themselves and to ready themselves for service as the Lord’s priests.  Like any people, they are sinful and must have their sin atoned for before they may come before the Lord.  In a beautiful foreshadowing of the covenant of the Jesus’ blood, Aaron and his sons are marked with the blood of the sacrifice, showing that their sin has been paid for.  Moses smears blood on their ears, their hands, and their feet.  They are clearing marked with the blood of the sacrifice.  To refuse to receive the blood would be to refuse to receive the atonement that it stood for.  Moses further marks them by sprinkling the blood on their clothing.  Blood is used as a sign for covenant throughout the Bible, culminating in the New Covenant, completed with the blood of Jesus.  Though His followers do not smear His blood on themselves, they are figuratively “marked” with His blood.  Aaron and his sons only received the blood because they killed the animal.  Moses did not kill it, they did.  Only those who kill the animal may take part in the blood.  In the same way, only those who kill the Son of God may take part in His blood.  The good news: we all qualify.  Anyone who has committed sin (everyone according to Rom 3:23) has had a hand in the bloody, awful, torturous, barbarous execution of Jesus Christ.  But to deny this is to deny your part in the Covenant.  Only the one who is willing to accept his part in the death of Jesus may claim his part in the life that He gives.  Leviticus 8 teaches us this.  Leviticus 8 was written for the purpose of leading people to salvation through Jesus Christ.

LEVITICUS 9
Jesus is the superior consolidation of the sacrifices of Leviticus 9.  In the chapter, there are a number of sacrifices made, both for the priests and for the people.  There are sacrifices of inauguration, sin offerings, burnt offerings, grain offerings, peace offerings, and wave offerings.  Many of these happened multiple times for the sake of the priests and the people.  Jesus is the superior consolidation of all of these.  In His death, all of these sacrifices are made final.  There will never be need of another sin offering.  Jesus’ death was sufficient, paying for all sin past, present, and future.  There will never be need of another peace offering.  Jesus was the ultimate peace offering. In Jesus, there is no distinction between priests and common people.  “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”  We are all sinners, and we all may find hope in Jesus’ death alone.  Leviticus 9 is about Jesus.

LEVITICUS 10
Leviticus 10 begins on a low note with man committing sin, even on the inauguration day of the tabernacle.  Nadab and Abihu committed some offense against the Lord, though we can only speculate as to what “strange fire” might have been.  They were immediately consumed by fire from the Lord in just punishment for their disobedience.  This passage should immediately trigger our minds to ponder the grace of Jesus.  If Nadab and Abihu were destroyed on the spot, justly, for one, single disobedience, how many opportunities have we personally had to be fried by God?  Yet each time, He has granted us unmerited grace and said, “No,” giving us one more chance to obey Him. In fact, He went to such great lengths to not destroy us.  He gave His only Son to die on the cross to take the punishment that we deserve.  If we add up all the times we deserved to go up in smoke like Nadab and Abihu, we can see just what we added upon Jesus’ shoulders as He suffered and died, carrying our sin and the sin of the world.  We must willingly accept our part in His suffering if we are to claim our part in His resurrected life, and subsequently, ours.  Leviticus 10 is about God’s grace and mercy.

LEVITICUS 11
Leviticus 11 takes us through the Old Testament Law concerning clean and unclean animals.  It also speaks of a person making himself unclean by touching an unclean thing or a dead carcass.  Uncleanliness spreads like disease.  Unclean pots must be smashed.  Extensive washing and rituals must take place to clean a person of their “uncleanliness.”  But when Jesus comes, He overcomes the Law with grace.  Jesus touches dead bodies in order that they may come back to life.  The Lord tells Peter to eat of clean and unclean animals.  Jesus associated with the sinners, tax collectors, and the lepers of His time, a people most definitely considered unclean.  Because grace always goes farther than the Law, Jesus was able to do this.  Leviticus 11 simply sets the scene, building up the wall for the purpose of Jesus busting through it.

LEVITICUS 12
Leviticus 12 tells about the impurities associated with childbirth.  Not only does this passage testify to Jesus’ work of cleansing impurities, it also testifies to the humble state of Jesus’ family.  The end of the passage specifically gives note to what should be done if a family could not afford a lamb.  The woman was to bring two doves or two pigeons to be sacrificed by the priest.  This is exactly what Mary, the mother of Jesus, did, thus testifying to the poor status of the family of the Messiah.  Leviticus 12 is about Jesus.

LEVITICUS 13
In Leviticus 13, we see much law connected to a person’s status of “clean” versus “unclean” by way of skin condition.  Most of the Law here is probably concerned with actually health issues, most of which were probably contagious.  People with these diseases were considered social outcasts, especially those who were considered to have leprosy.  This extensive chapter gives support to the fact that they are to be put outside the camp for the safety of the greater whole.  This is the Law.  But Jesus goes beyond the Law with grace.  Grace always goes further than the Law, therefore, Jesus went to the lepers.  Jesus healed many, many people considered to be unclean.  Leviticus 13 makes those acts of healing all the more incredible to those who witnessed them.  The people would see that Jesus was willing to go even to the people cast out because of physical ailment.  No one was too remote or “unclean” for the gospel.  Leviticus 13 is about the grace and love of Jesus.

LEVITICUS 14
Leviticus 14 again deals with the purification of disease both from people and from objects.  All through the middle of the chapter, we see the person being purified undergoing the same ritual as Aaron and his sons.  They had the blood of an offering put on their right ear, right thumb, and right big toe.  But the remarkable thing about Leviticus 14 comes once at the very beginning and once at the very end.  The person with the skin infection and the house with the infection both must undergo a ritual in which a bird is sacrificed over an open container of water.  The blood of the bird then mixes with the water and, in order to be purified, the object of purification must be sprinkled, covered by, the blood and water.  In the gospels, it says that a Roman soldier went and drove a spear into the side of Jesus on the cross, and out flowed “blood and water.”  The infected of the Old Testament had to be cleansed through the blood and the water.  It is no different for us.  As we are infected with sin and death, we may only be cleansed by the blood and water of Jesus Christ.

LEVITICUS 15
In what is probably the most awkward chapter of the entire Bible, the Law addresses the uncleanliness associated with male and female “discharges” from the body.  However, it would be folly for those of us under the new covenant to focus on anything but the transition from unclean to clean.  The point of this chapter is for us to understand that in everything, even in things that we seemingly have no control over, Jesus has washed us, expiating our uncleanliness.  In His death, Jesus becomes the goat onto which we cast our sin and chase out of the camp.  Leviticus 15 is about Jesus taking away our uncleanliness.

LEVITICUS 16
Leviticus 16 is all about Jesus and His work on the cross.  Leviticus 16 is about the Day of Atonement.  Under the Old Testament Law, the Israelites were to bring two goats to the temple on the Day of Atonement.  These goats would serve two distinct purposes.  The first goat served as the people’s propitiation, which meant that the goat would die as the only just penalty for the sin of Israel.  The Law declares that sin must be atoned for through the shedding of blood.  God was gracious enough that He allowed the Israelites to kill a goat instead of He killing them.  The second goat would be the people’s expiation. This means that he would take their sins away from them.  (For example: If someone murders someone, they might go to jail and serve their sentence.  But when they get out, are they still a murderer? Yes!  Expiation serves to remove this label from the people.) After the second goat, the people were freed from the titles of their sins.  

Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament Law.  While the goats served as a yearly sacrifice to bring atonement for the people of God, Jesus sacrificed would be good enough to last through eternity.  In His death, He would become the eternal propitiation and expiation for the children of God.  He has paid the penalty in full, bearing the weight of the world’s sin upon His shoulders.  He is our propitiation, dying the death we should have died.  He is also our expiation.  Though I have lied and done many sins in my life, before God, I am no longer labeled a “liar” because the Lord has taken my sins and separated them from me.  Leviticus 16 was written with the expressed purpose of one day glorifying the Lord’s death on a cross.  The Law affected many things in between, but the primary purpose was to glorify Jesus and show us that everything is oriented around Him.  Leviticus 16 is all about Jesus.

LEVITICUS 17
In Leviticus 17, the Lord commands, again, that people not eat or drink the blood of animals they sacrifice.  He references Himself from Genesis, reminding the Israelites that blood contains the life of the creature.  Though this seems like an odd principle, it is a support beam that holds up the entire structure of Christ’s sacrifice.  It is only because the blood contains the life that Christ is able to pour out His life for the sake of others.  This is why Jesus says, “Drink my blood.”  Does this contradict the OT Law? No.  The OT Law was set up so that God’s people would not drink of any blood except that of Christ.  His blood is the only blood that brings life, and not a curse, to those who partake of it.  He is the perfect sacrifice and His blood I perfect.  Other sacrifices are imperfect, and to drink of the blood would be simply to fill ourselves with more imperfect blood than we already have.  Grace says we are saved by being covered, willingly, by the blood of the Lamb of God.  Leviticus 17 is an essential building block in the foundation of Jesus’ work on the cross.

LEVITICUS 18
Leviticus 18 commands the people of God to not defile themselves by disobeying the Lord’s commands.  The Lord tells them not to be like the Egyptians or the Canaanites, referring to idolatry, wickedness, and most prominently in this chapter, sexual relations.  The bulk of this chapter is dedicated to addressing improper sexual relations between a man and another person.  The point here is not to focus on sex.  The point is to focus on Jesus.  The Law says, “What things am I not allowed to do?”  Grace says, “How close can I come to Jesus?”  Grace always goes further than the Law.  Again at the end of the chapter, the Lord reminds the people to be obedient to Him, not so that He will save them, but because He has already promised to.  Leviticus 18 should remind us of the relationship of unconditional love that Jesus has for those who are His.

LEVITICUS 19
Leviticus 19 shows the complexity and depth of the character of Jesus Christ. The chapter shows God’s predisposition for justice while displaying His great heart for the poor. We see God’s love for order and Law, while not missing His unfailing love for individual people. If anyone owes something, it must be paid back. But so many times, God steps in and pays what we cannot afford. This theme, repeated through the chapter and the bible, points directly and candidly at the work of Christ on the cross. We, all people, have committed sin against a good and holy God. We owe Him for what we have done against Him. But, to our apparent dismay, the cost for sin is death (Rom 6:23), a price we cannot afford. But the Lord, in the greatest mercy and love, left His throne in heaven to come die the death we could not die. Only because He was sunless could He harbor the sins of the world. Only because He is the Creator-God could He overcome death.  Jesus Christ paid the penalty for our sin, not His own, that we could not afford, thereby freeing us from the bondage that we put ourselves in. If we look at Leviticus 19, we are the man who has lain with the virgin who is not ours. We have defiled her and we owe the owner. In Leviticus 19, we are the ones who have defiled our bodies, given by Christ, and we are in need of God to clean us. We are the residents who oppress the foreigners, though we forget that we are actually foreigners in another’s land. We are in desperate need of a savior capable of washing the stains of sin away and paying the debt to God that has mounted up so high we could never fathom paying it off. We need Jesus.

LEVITICUS 20
In Leviticus 20, many laws are laid down for the Israelites.  At first glance, they seem sporadic, unrelated, and disjointed.  But when you pull back and look at the whole chapter, you can see that the Lord is prohibiting the people of Israel from searching in things other than the Lord for fulfillment and salvation.  The Lord is a jealous God and Jesus says that no one comes to the Father, except through Him.  Leviticus 20 reminds us that only Jesus is our fulfillment and our salvation.  We need not search anywhere else.

LEVITICUS 21
Leviticus 21 teaches us a few things about Jesus.  The chapter commands that the priests, and the High Priest, not defile themselves by touching the dead (unless they are a very close relative).  But, as is the theme, grace always goes further than the Law.  As Jesus is about His ministry, He comes into contact with many dead people.  Normally, this would have been an abomination to the pious Jews around Him.  But Jesus did things differently.  Jesus would not become unclean in any manner until the time appointed for Him to become sin upon the cross.  Instead, when around the dead, Jesus brought them back to life!  He called Lazarus from his tomb, even though he had been dead for several days.  Jesus brought the little girl back to life, even though everyone had laughed at Him for saying she was merely sleeping.  Jesus touched the casket of the dead boy.  This must have caused a huge social reaction, as this was very-much the opposite of what any other Rabbi would do.  But Jesus brought the boy back to life and was therefore free of defilement.  

In Leviticus 21, we also see other requirements for the High Priest.  He must marry a virgin, not a widow or divorced woman.  But grace always goes further than the Law.  Jesus did not give Himself in marriage, but rather chose to pursue God completely and not to divide His interests on earth.  

Leviticus 21 also speaks against those who have physical defects, not allowing them in the presence of God.  But grace always goes further than the Law.  The Law says no physical defects.  Jesus says that when His Kingdom comes, He will make everyone new with glorified, perfected, resurrected bodies.  Leviticus 21 is about Jesus showing loving grace, going beyond what the Law requires.

LEVITICUS 22
Leviticus 22 gives regulations concerning the food of the priests, as well as free-will and votive offerings.  There are two obvious implications that point to Jesus.  In the section about offerings, it is commanded that the people must give a flawless male if their offering is to be accepted by God.  This regulation carries over into the New Testament.  Jesus would not have been an acceptable sacrifice if He had not been a sinless male.  He met this regulation, as well as many others.  Jesus was the firstborn of His mother Mary and He was guiltless in every way.  The second thing in Leviticus 22 that points at Jesus deals with the regulations regarding the priest’s food.  Because it was given to the temple, the food of the priest was not for just anyone.  Anyone who was not a priest had to have very special privileges in order to consume the food of the priests.  In verse 11, it says, “but if a priest buys a person with his own money, that person may eat the holy offerings, and those born in the priest’s own house may eat his food.”  This verse points straight to Jesus and His purchase of a people for Himself.  The Bible says that He has purchased us (the elect) with His blood and that we are born anew into His family.  He has qualified us!  We are allowed to consume the Bread of Life!  Jesus has done the work, abiding by the Old Testament Law in order that we might live a life of freedom in Him.  Leviticus 22 is about Jesus.

LEVITICUS 23
Leviticus 23 is about two things: God doing and us not doing.  The chapter is a list of different times of the year when the Israelites were to stop what they were doing and remember what God had already done.  This chapter reminds people how little influence they have over the things of life.  These times of rest remind people that they don’t have the strength to do life on their own.  Ephesians 2:8-9 sums up this chapter well, saying, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, not by works – and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God – so that no one may boast.”  Leviticus 21 shows us that all we can do is be grateful to God for what He has done for us.  This all culminates, of course, in the work of Jesus on the cross.  Like the Israelites in Passover, we must acknowledge that we can do nothing to change the course of events, change the heart of people, or change the mind of God.  We are simply the recipients of His just wrath, or His unwarranted grace.  This applies nowhere more directly than the cross, because it is the most loving act ever, incurred for the most ill-deserving people, by the most gracious Being in existence.  Leviticus 23 should point us to the cross, remind us to rest in it, and only offer up our thanks to Him who endured it.

LEVITICUS 24
Leviticus 24 is about Jesus.  The first section tells of the bread that is to be laid before the altar in the temple.  It is holy and for the priests.  This is the same bread that Jesus speaks of when telling the story about David eating the temple bread.  Jesus points out that the Sabbath is for man, not man for the Sabbath.  Many times, Jesus would be referred to as Bread (Bread of Life; this bread is my body, broken and poured out for you; etc.).  In Leviticus 24, the text states that the bread of the temple is only for the priests.  To be sure this regulation is not broken, Jesus has done something miraculous for us.  He has made us all priests!  “You are a royal priesthood.”  Jesus has qualified us to eat of the temple bread, which gives us life in God.

LEVITICUS 25
Leviticus 25 contains an interesting statute:  in the year of Jubilee (every seven years), property was returned to the original owner.  To be sure, this served a great social purpose, guaranteeing some level of security and equality among most of the people.  Even if someone was terribly poor, they could sell their house.  If they could then survive until the next year of Jubilee (a max of 7 years), their property would be returned to them and their family would have a place to live.  (This is not to downplay the harshness of life that could come upon someone in that time-frame.)

This peculiar law is also important for another reason.  Because families were always returning to their homes, it made it possible to keep very accurate track to the tribes and genealogies of the Israelites.  This leads us to Jesus.  Why in the gospel accounts is a genealogy, all the way back to Adam, so readily available?  It is because of this particular law.  When this law was created, it was done so, by God, with the birth of Jesus in mind.  Leviticus 25, especially the law about redemption of property, is about Jesus!

LEVITICUS 26
Leviticus 26 shows us two different things about Jesus.  First, we see Jesus’ vision for the end of days.  We see the same picture that is found in Revelation where He rules on the throne.  There is no more sorrow or pain.  Everything good is plentiful and everything evil is destroyed or “put outside the walls.”  There is no want for anything, and Jesus reigns supreme.  According to Leviticus 26, this is the life that awaits those who are faithful to the Lord.  (Not by works, but through faith; Eph 2:8-9)  The second thing we see about Jesus is His willingness to forgive.  After dragging the Israelites through the atrocities that await those who are unfaithful, Jesus, the Author of our faith, says that He will forgive those who confess their sins to Him and turn to Him in repentance.  Those that walk against the Lord will see the Lord walk against them.  This too is prophesied in the book of Revelation.  Leviticus 26 shares a great link with the book of Revelation and both are all about Jesus.

LEVITICUS 27
Leviticus 27 reminds us of all that has been written in the Law so far.  It reminds the people of God of their obligation to glorify a holy God.  This is the core of the Law.  We are to honor Jesus Christ, not because honoring Him brings us salvation, but because He has already brought us salvation.  We know, from the Law, that we are sinful and separated from God.  It is only once we realize this that Jesus true glory can be made manifest in our souls.  Leviticus preaches the gospel by cornering us in such a way that we cannot escape, lest we cry out to the very Maker of the Universe.  Leviticus 27 reminds us of the monumental work done by God in Jesus for our sake and for His glory.  All of Leviticus is about Jesus.