Leviticus 5:14-19

Ah Leviticus.  The book which stops so many well intentioned people in their tracks as they attempt to read through the Bible from front to back. It seems like it so chock full of things that have little to do with life in the 21^st Century.  It seems in many ways so dark, so negative.  In reality, however, without Leviticus the entire New Testament doesn’t make any sense.  More than that, there are actually lots of very practical aspects for our lives to be found within the pages of this book.

What we see in Leviticus is the process of God putting in place the rules and regulations for people to be restored to righteousness – to right standing and wholeness – before God.  It was through these varying and different sacrifices that people were able to know forgiveness and sense God’s grace.  No sacrifice, no forgiveness.  This reality points us back to Genesis where God said that the result of eating from the tree at the center of the Garden would be death.

Out of an abundance of grace God allows those who are repentant to avoid that death by offering an animal sacrifice in their place.  God is also giving humanity the opportunity to see how futile it is to try and get themselves back into God’s good graces – even with animal sacrifices to help them.  The whole point of the sacrifices wasn’t really the animal being sacrificed; it was the attitude of the one coming to the altar.  Even this part humanity couldn’t get right.  They came offering sacrifices without offering their hearts or lives – that’s often not much different from today really.

In addition to pointing us backwards, Leviticus also points us forwards to the person and work of Jesus.  The trouble with the animal sacrifices was that they needed to be done year after year; and, as we’ve seen, they needed to be accompanied by a repentant heart to actually be effectual.  If you couldn’t make it to the Temple or have the resources for a sacrifice then you would have felt as though you could not know God’s grace or forgiveness.  So Jesus offered himself as the once and for ever sacrifice.

God said, “Now can you see that you can’t do this by yourselves, do you see how big the gap is between my holiness and your brokenness?  So just bring your hearts and I’ll do the rest.”  And he did.  Alleluia!