Final thoughts on Leviticus: Be Holy!

My brain is mushy. Not only do I have a headache because the weather is changing, but it's full to the brim with all that wonderful information I received at the American Christian Fiction Writers' conference!

BUT...

That won't stop me from posting my final thoughts on Leviticus!

Frankly, I'm glad I'm finished reading this book! These are not the most inspiring pages of the Bible. Yet God obviously wants us to read it and understand it. Why? Because we learn from history. We learn from example. We learn from mistakes. And Leviticus is FULL of history, examples and mistakes!

But there is one central theme throughout the book if you look close enough. Wade through the decrees and laws and really listen to what God is telling the Israelites. To what God is telling us:

"Be holy, because I am holy!" (11:44)

Think about it. How can we ever be considered holy? There is only one way.

By consecrating ourselves for God and His purposes. (11:44)

Years ago (probably the first time I truly read through Leviticus) I did a study on the word "consecrate." It means "to devote; dedicate; set apart as holy." I looked up every scripture that referenced it and wrote them down. I also recalled an old hymn titled "Take My Life" where we sang, "Take my life and let it be, consecrated Lord to thee." This truly became the theme of my life at that point.

I am consecrated for God. I wasn't always. I don't think every Christian is, either. I don't think a lot of people understand what it means to be consecrated. I didn't until I studied it. I may have already done it by giving myself wholly unto God for His purposes and just didn't realize I was consecrated. Certainly in my early years of childhood and going into adulthood I was not consecrated. I loved Jesus, but I was not devoted to Him. I was not dedicated to Him. And I certainly had not set myself apart as holy.

Leviticus can be dry reading, but there are lessons to be learned from it. I hope I've pointed out a few in this blog. Click on the label "Leviticus" if you missed them. I'm sure there are plenty more lessons to be learned from this challenging book that I missed this time and will have to catch next time.

Tomorrow I start in on Numbers! Oy! Numbers--the digits, not the book--and I do not get along at all! Just ask my husband, the keeper of our checkbook. It will be interesting to see what God can teach me through this book!

The Elephant in Leviticus: Sexual Sin

Doing a study of the Book of Leviticus without touching on sexual sin would be like ignoring an elephant in the room. It just can't be done.

So...without further ado...

Chapters 18 and 20 get down to the nitty-gritty of sexual sin. I mean, nothing is left out! All of man's sexual depravity is spelled out in black and white, folks. Why? Because God knows what people do in secret and He is not happy about it. He makes that abundantly clear in these chapters. Some sexual offenses were worthy of death in God's eye!! (See also Ex. 22:19)

Sexual purity was always God's plan. In Genesis 2 God introduces us to that plan. Verses 24-25 are key:

"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame."

One flesh. That means sex! Adam and Eve had sex in the garden, just as God planned, blessed and ordained. They felt no shame in their nakedness. They felt no shame in coming together as a man and his wife are made to do. However, Leviticus makes it abundantly clear that something went terribly wrong after the fall of mankind. People took the beautiful gift of sex and made it perverted and sinful.

In Matthew 15:19 Jesus spoke about sexual immorality, including adultery, when he was teaching the disciples about what it means to be unclean. The Pharisee's were in an uproar because Jesus' followers didn't wash their hands before they ate, but Jesus makes it clear that the things that make a man unclean are due to what is in his heart rather than what is on his hands.

In Romans 1:24-25 Paul writes, "Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie."

In Romans 6:13 he says, "Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness."

In 1 Cor. 6 he makes it clear our bodies belong to God and are not meant for sexual immorality.

In Ephesians 5:3 he says there should not be even a hint of sexual immorality if we claim to belong to Jesus Christ.

Finally, Revelation 21:8 and 22:15 make it very clear what will happen to those who choose sexual sin over God:

"But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts--their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."

"Outside [of heaven] are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood."

Beginning in Genesis 1 and going all the way through Revelation 22, you will find only one category of people who God blesses sexually: A man and his wife. (Genesis 1:28) Any sexual activity outside of the marriage between a man and his wife is not blessed by God. God created us and He created us as sexual beings, but He did not give us open permission for any and all sexual relationships.

Remember...you can't hide anything from God!

Not even an elephant.

Understanding God vs. Obedience...

I plowed through Leviticus 13 & 14 this morning. And I mean plowed through 'em. These are not the most wonderfully, inspiring chapters of the Bible.

Or at least that's what I thought.

After I closed my Bible, I looked heavenward and said, "HUH? I don't get it, Lord!! I don't get all the regulations about skin diseases and mildew and the tons of other things listed in Leviticus!!!! I. JUST. DON'T. GET. IT!!"

Take for instance Leviticus 14:34 where God says to Moses that He will "put a spreading mildew in a house in that land" and then goes on to give instructions on what to do about mildew.

I'm truly stumped. I don't get it at all. Why put the mildew there in the first place if the people were going to have to go through all this ritual to get rid of it?! Same with the infectious skin diseases and the other situations listed in Leviticus.

Why did God give so many laws?

Well, if you're waiting for some major revelation here...sorry to disappoint you. I am not the person to answer that question. I'm as confused as you. If you're confused. If you're not, then kudos to you! Maybe you can give me a little help understanding it all.

But as I was crying out to God with my "WHY LORD?!" questions this morning, something truly wonderful occurred to me!

I don't have to UNDERSTAND God and His ways to be OBEDIENT!!!

Wow!! Did you get that?

We don't have to UNDERSTAND God to be OBEDIENT!

That is truly freeing when you think about it! We don't--and won't!--always understand the why's of God's ways. In Isaiah 55:8 He says, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, either are my ways your ways." It doesn't get any clearer than that, folks! God never intended for us to understand everything!

And you know what? Understanding it all isn't the important part anyway! It's the obedience we offer to Him in spite of our lack of understanding that counts!

As children we didn't always understand the rules and discipline our parents doled out. But understanding wasn't the main issue. Obedience was. And that's the exact same way it is between us and God the Father. He wants our obedience, even if we don't always understand what's going on. Because...

God DOES understand!

And that's what matters!

The Law vs. Grace...

We live under a lot of laws!

If you drive a car, there are all kinds of laws for driver's to follow: Don't speed. Obey the road signs and traffic lights. Stay in the correct lane. Don't drink and drive. And countless others. (We're in the throes of Driver's Ed with our youngest son, so we're trying to hammer into him all those laws!)

There are all kinds of laws to obey as citizens of the United States: Don't steal. Don't pollute and litter. Don't murder. Pay your taxes. And countless others.

As Christians, we accept the Ten Commandments as law: Don't have any other gods. Don't use God's name in vain. Honor your parents. Honor the Sabbath. And six others.

I'm reading through Leviticus these days and I have to tell you...God gave His people, the Israelites...A LOT OF LAWS!!

There are laws concerning the sacrifices and the temple; what foods they could and couldn't eat; what to do after a woman gives birth; what to do about infectious skin diseases; what to do about mildew; what to do about bodily discharges (Ick!); eating blood (Ick, again!); about sexual relations; and countless others.

I guess because all these laws are spelled out right here in the Bible where I can read them, I have the impression that there were just waaaaaay too many laws. But if I were to hold in my hand a book containing all the laws I'm supposed to keep as a driver and a citizen and a Christian, I probably wouldn't be able to hold the volume. It would be enormous. Have I kept every single one of those laws? I know that I haven't. I don't often intentionally break laws, but I'm not going to lie and say that I never break the law--God's or man's.

It is impossible to live life without ever breaking a law.

I don't say that as an excuse for bad or sinful behavior. I say that as a person who's being honest.

Thankfully, Jesus took the burden of living under the Law upon himself when He died on the cross. He basically said, "Here, let me carry the heavy, impossible weight of the laws for you."

That, my friend, is Grace.

""For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace." Romans 6:14

Does that mean we don't have to obey God's laws anymore?

Absolutely not!

Jesus said, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished." Matthew 5:17-18.

I think it's pretty clear that we're to continue to live our lives as lawful as possible, adhering to the Commandments and teachings in the Bible. But there are a lot of rules and regulations in Leviticus that aren't part of our daily existence in the 21st century. Some, like the food issues, are addressed in the New Testament. Some aren't.

The bottom line comes to this, in my humble opinion:

Following God's laws is important, but it will not save you from your sins. Only Jesus can do that.

The Ultimate Sin Offering...

I'm plowing through Leviticus these days. As I've read about thank offerings, grain offerings, and sin offerings, I realized how very grateful I am we don't have to go through all that ritual anymore! I, for one, have never seen an animal slaughtered, skinned, cut up, etc. etc. My meat comes from the grocery store and that's all I want to know!

So reading through Leviticus and Exodus about all the sacrifices is a little distasteful to some of us. But we have to remember that killing animals for consumption was a very common practice for the Israelites. Most families probably raised their own livestock and slaughtered them as needed. Seeing blood and such would not have been anything new to them. Today's farmers, ranchers, hunters, and meat industry workers were just like the Israelites--it wasn't anything new or unusual.

Even though the whole animal-offering-ritual is rather unpleasant to me, it wasn't to God! Time and again I read that the burnt offerings were "a pleasing aroma to the Lord." He gave His people specific instructions, so it pleased Him when they followed them. It still pleases God today when we obey Him and His commandments. Our love, worship and praise is a pleasing aroma to God!

In Leviticus 4 the Lord gives Moses instructions on how to go about atoning for sin. He starts off by saying, "When anyone sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord's commands..." That tells me there is intentional sin and unintentional sin. How do we know the difference?

"When they become aware of the sin they committed.." (4:14)
"When he is made aware of the sin he committed..." (4:23)
"When he is made aware of the sin he committed..." (4:28)

When we sin, we will know it! Either because the sin we've committed is obvious or because God will bring it to our attention. Either way, we must take care of it.

"...he must confess in what way he has sinned..." (5:5)

But what about now? How do we atone for our sins?

I don't know about you, but I'm relieved that I don't have to take a lamb to a temple to have it slaughtered for my sins. But a Lamb did die for me. A perfect, spotless Lamb took all my ugly, nasty, black-hearted sin upon Him when He died on the cross.

"Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" John the Baptist said this in John 1:29.

"Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders." Revelation 5:5, John's revelation of things to come.

"...he was led like a lamb to the slaughter..." Isaiah 53:7, which is prophecy of Jesus' dying on the cross.

The Lamb was sacrificed for your sin and for mine. That's why we don't have to take animals to the temple anymore. Jesus already paid the price for our sin. His blood has already been spilled.

Jesus is the ultimate sin offering!