HOLINESS AND WORSHIP
Remember we finished Exodus with the construction of the tabernacle, the glory of God filling it and His presence leading the Israelites on their journey. God was where He wanted to be, right in the middle of his people. Leviticus is how life must be lived if we want to stay in God’s presence and worship him.

Leviticus is the book of the Levites, the tribe responsible for the priesthood and other dedicated workers in God’s kingdom. The Levites replaced the first born sons as people belonging to Him and were given over to the Lord’s work. Moses was a Levite and Aaron, his brother, became the first high priest. If anyone from another tribe tried to get involved with priestly work, well they were dead! Leviticus shows us, more than anything, the problems that God faced. How could he live in the middle of His people when they were all messed up and sinful? The book gives us ways of being outwardly and symbolically clean even though, inwardly, the sin problem was never fully dealt with. Leviticus is all about holiness and everything the Israelites had to do because of their sin. God was not, so much, dealing with the sin, as showing us the seriousness of it, how difficult it is to be holy and what God cares about. Ultimately, people would come to realise it was impossible to keep the old covenant law but their failure would then lead them, in desperation, to Christ when the time was right.

HOLY OFFERINGS
In chapter one we start with all the holy gifts and sacrifices. Notice in verse 2 God says, “when any of you…..” Sacrifices were optional for God wants us, of our own freewill, to surrender and sacrifice our lives for him. He does not force himself upon us but we are blessed if we choose to follow his way. And then, of course, we get all the horrible detail and depending on your personal circumstances, rich or poor, you usually gave a bull, a sheep, a goat or birds. They had to be killed and their blood was sprinkled on the altar just outside the tabernacle tent;  then the flesh was presented in some way on the fire itself. Chapter 1v17 says that it would then become an “aroma pleasing to the Lord”. Note it was the person making the gift who, usually, had to lay his hand on the animal’s head and kill it. You could bring a grain offering (chapter 2), instead of an animal, adding oil and incense to the choice flour (v2). A token handful of this was made to the Lord by fire and the rest belonged to (and was eaten by!) Aaron and his sons. We see this in other offerings; some are available as food for the priests, some not.

With the fellowship offering (chapter 3) it appears that God is particularly interested in the fat that covers the inner parts, both kidneys and the covering of the liver. This is what we call suet. Note with all these offerings that they should be without defect, only the best will do. Interesting that only a male animal was suitable for the burnt offering, where atonement is made, but both male and female were fine for the fellowship offering. The burnt offerings were completely burnt because they were an expression of adoration whereas the fellowship offering was saying thanks for all God’s good gifts (7v12) and, therefore, was shared between the altar (burnt by fire), the priests and the owner. The sin offering (chapter 4) was to cover times when you sin unintentionally (v2). You may do something wrong, God shows you that it is wrong, you regret it and bring a sin offering to the Lord. This can apply to the priests, the whole community, the leaders or finally the ordinary person. A guilt offering is very similar. If (chapter 6) the sin involves possessions (stealing etc) then you, not only had to make a guilt offering, but you also had to make restitution with 20% extra. Notice and take warning that there is no offering available for intentional sin.

HOLY PEOPLE
As well as holy offerings God wanted a holy people, a priesthood of Aaron and his sons (chapter 8). At their consecration, they were washed with water, had special clothes to wear and, then, were anointed with oil.  Even more sacrifices were made and an interesting fact, symbolic of complete dedication, was that rams blood was put on the lobe of Aaron’s ear, the thumb of his right hand and the big toe of his right foot (v23). In chapter 9 (v6) Moses said “this is what the Lord has commanded you to do, so the glory of the Lord may appear to you”. And so it did, (v23-24), in a way that perhaps reminds us of Pentecost. In chapter 10 we hear the sad account of Nadab and Abihu who, we are told, offered incense to the Lord but in the wrong way (v1). It was so important that the holy things were treated with respect and honour (v3), by holy people. God’s presence is a wonderful thing if honoured and respected; otherwise, it is a dangerous thing. We read that Aaron was silent (v3) and so would you if two of your sons had been consumed by fire in front of your very eyes. Verses 8 and 9 imply that they may well have been drunk at the time.

CLEANSING TYPES OF UNCLEANNESS
And so the regulations go on and on. There are clean and unclean animals (chapter 11). All these are part of God’s message that he is holy, he is special and he wants us to be like him. Verse 45 says “be holy because I am holy”. In chapter 12 a woman was required to be purified after childbirth, again by sacrifice. I wonder if this is because original sin is passed down from generation to generation and has to be cleansed. Chapters 13 and 14 are incredibly long chapters giving regulations about infectious skin diseases and mildew which appear to be, somehow, related. And then chapter 15 covers all kinds of uncleanness associated with bodily discharges and monthly periods. Obviously, there is a connection with the reproductive process, again, but why all this rigmarole; there is a clue in Chapter 15v31 “defiling my holy place”. If a holy God is to have his presence among us sinful people then it is so difficult not to defile his presence. God wants to be among his people but how can that be when we are so sinful?

DAY OF ATONEMENT
Chapter 16 is very important –“the day of atonement”. After the early death of Aaron’s sons, God said that, maybe, it was not a good idea that Aaron came so frequently into the most holy place, anytime he wanted; possibly because he stood a good chance of dying as well. Only once a year would the high priest, and only he, be allowed to go into that area near the ark of the covenant. Only with a full range of blood sacrifices and a smokescreen of incense; enough to cover the holy atonement cover. And then there was to be the release of a scapegoat into the desert. The fact that these sacrifices had to be made continually, year by year, shows that the sin problem never went away despite the gallons of blood that were shed, the thousands of animals roasted and the amount of incense burned.

HOLY RELATIONSHIPS
Chapter 18 explains all the unlawful sexual relationships a person can become involved in; including those with close family relatives (v 6-18), other peoples partners (v20), those of the same sex (v22) and animals (v23). God then gives us the reason why he wished the original inhabitants of the land to be driven out (v24-25).  They had sacrificed their children to Molech (v21) and defiled the land with those sexual practices which God calls abominations (v27).

HOLY AND GOOD LIVES
God wants us to live holy lives and chapter 19 is one of the great chapters of Leviticus. There are so many honest, good laws here on which can be built any great society. Read carefully the whole chapter. Chapter 20 outlines the punishment for sin. Why is God so insistent that we follow these ways of his (look at verses 22-26)? Without God the lives of people deteriorate until God abhors them (v23) but He wants them to be holy like He is and set apart from the nations to be His own” (v26). God wants his own special, beautiful and holy people. In chapter 20 we read those wonderful words, “I am the Lord; I sanctify you.” This is the message that runs throughout the Bible that we cannot be holy by our own efforts; it is only God who can make us holy.

HOLY FESTIVALS
So God wants a house with a holy place and a most holy place, holy sacrifices and a holy priesthood, he wants holy and good lives but he also wants holy festivals, which the Bible calls sacred assemblies (chapter 23). In fact there was one every week called the Sabbath. There is the passover and feast of unleavened bread, the first fruits, the harvest and feast of weeks. Again, there is something special about the number seven as the seventh month is full of festivals; in fact even the first day starts off with a blast, called the feast of trumpets. The 10th day is the special annual day of atonement and then, later on, the feast of tabernacles where they actually live in booths for 7 days.

HOLY LAND -YEAR OF JUBILEE
And how about chapter 25 with it’s instructions about a Sabbath year (the 7th year) and after 7 x 7 years the great year of the Jubilee? God desired a year of rest for the land, as well as a 7th day of rest. You see the land was holy as well, because God had given it to them, and at the end of 50 years it had to be returned to it’s original owners. If you became poor and desperate, at some time in the 50 years, you could sell yourself to someone but on the year of jubilee you had to be freed. In God’s kingdom, nobody can take away the inheritance and freedom that God wants to give to you.

LIFE IS HOLY AND PRECIOUS
In chapter 24 we see the holiness of God’s name but also the holiness of our bodies (v17). If anyone takes the life of a human being they should lose theirs, “eye for an eye and tooth for tooth” (v20).

HOLY LIFE IS ONE OF BLESSING
In chapter 26 we see the rewards for obedience; provision of food and safety (v3-5), removal of dangers and dangerous people (v6) and fruitful with children (v9). God wishes to put his dwelling place among us (v11) and wants us to be free (not slaves) with our heads held high (v13). On the other hand, the longer they rebelled, the punishments for disobedience would get worse and worse. But even then, if their hearts were humbled (v41), God would not reject them.

FIRSTBORN AND TITHES ALSO HOLY
In chapter 27 we read that the firstborn of animals belong to the Lord, they are holy and so is the tithe.

SUMMARY
So in summary, what does Leviticus show us? First and foremost, that God is holy and wants us to be holy in every way. This is because Israel was his own special people; furthermore, he wants to dwell with his people. On the other hand, Hebrews tells us that the law was weak and useless because it never made anybody perfect (7v18,19). Even so, the law was there to lead us to Christ because it showed us our complete brokenness. Perhaps the most important principle of all, “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins”. It is only through the greatest offering of all, the perfect Lamb of God Jesus Christ, that sin was finally dealt with, once and for all. Thankfully, the old covenant has been superseded by a greater covenant. Thank God, though, for Leviticus which gives us a snapshot of God’s heart. In this day and age, do Christians really appreciate the fact that they can enter God’s holy presence? Never take it for granted.