← Back to sermon library

Probably next week we'll look 
at the sacrifices in chapters 1 to 7. But as I said tonight, 
we're going to just introduce the book. But I do want to read 
chapter 1 just to get our minds into this context. So beginning 
in verse 1. Now the Lord called to Moses 
and spoke to him from the tabernacle of meeting, saying, Speak to 
the children of Israel and say to them, When any one of you 
brings an offering to the Lord, you shall bring your offering 
of the livestock, of the herd, and of the flock. If his offering 
is a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without 
blemish. He shall offer it of his own 
free will at the door of the tabernacle of meeting before 
the Lord. Then he shall put his hand on the head of the burnt 
offering, and it will be accepted on his behalf to make atonement 
for him. He shall kill the bull before 
the Lord, and the priests, Aaron's sons, shall bring the blood of 
the altar, excuse me, he shall kill the bull before the Lord, 
and the priests, Aaron's sons, shall bring the blood and sprinkle 
the blood all around on the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle 
of meeting. And he shall skin the burnt offering 
and cut it into its pieces. The sons of Aaron, the priests, 
shall put fire on the altar and lay the wood in order on the 
fire. Then the priests, Aaron's sons, shall lay the parts, the 
head and the fat, in order on the wood that is on the fire 
upon the altar. But he shall wash its entrails 
and its legs with water. And the priest shall burn all 
on the altar as a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, a sweet 
aroma to the Lord. If his offering is of the flocks, 
of the sheep, or of the goats, as a burnt sacrifice, he shall 
bring a male without blemish. He shall kill it on the north 
side of the altar before the Lord. And the priests, Aaron's 
sons, shall sprinkle its blood all around on the altar. And 
he shall cut it into its pieces with its head and its fat. And 
the priest shall lay them in order on the wood that is on 
the fire upon the altar. But he shall wash the entrails 
and the legs with water. then the priest shall bring it 
all and burn it on the altar. It is a burnt sacrifice, an offering 
made by fire, a sweet aroma to the Lord. And if the burnt sacrifice 
of his offering to the Lord is of birds, then he shall bring 
his offering of turtle doves or young pigeons. The priest 
shall bring it to the altar, wring off its head, and burn 
it on the altar. Its blood shall be drained out 
at the side of the altar. And he shall remove its crop 
with its feathers and cast it beside the altar on the east 
side, into the place for ashes. Then he shall split it at its 
wings, but shall not divide it completely. And the priest shall 
burn it on the altar, on the wood that is on the fire. It 
is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to 
the Lord. Amen. As I said, matters of introduction. I want to look first at the author 
and title of the book. Secondly, the historical context 
of the book. Third, the theological emphases 
in the book, and then finally, the outline of the book. But 
in terms of the author and the title, now typically people, 
conservative Christians and Reformed people, accept Mosaic authorship 
of the Pentateuch. So, since he wrote the first 
five books of the Bible, certainly he wrote the third book, which 
is the book of Leviticus. There is some external proof 
of that. You can turn to the Gospel of 
Matthew. Matthew chapter 8, the Lord Jesus 
references Moses as having written specifically the book of Leviticus. So in Matthew 8, 1, when he had 
come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. 
And behold, a leper came and worshipped him, saying, Lord, 
if you are willing, you can make me clean. Then Jesus put out 
his hand and touched him, saying, I am willing, be cleansed. Immediately 
his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus said to him, See that 
you tell no one, but go your way, show yourself to the priest, 
and offer the gift that Moses commanded as a testimony to them. Well, Moses commanded that in 
the book of Leviticus. And then in John 8, the woman 
caught in adultery. John 8, 5, specifically, Jesus' 
opponents cite Mosaic authorship of the book of Leviticus. Now 
Moses, chapter 8, verse 5, in the law, commanded us that such 
should be stoned. But what do you say? This is 
a reference to Leviticus chapter 20 and verse 10. It's also repeated 
in Deuteronomy 22. But Mosaic authorship of the 
Pentateuch is a settled and agreed upon sort of maxim. Now as I 
said, there are non-conservative scholars There are liberal scholars 
that have a whole elaborate way that they try to date the Pentateuch, 
and typically they put a lot of it after the exile. So we're 
not going to give them any time. This is typically referred to 
as higher critical methodology. It really does not do well in 
terms of enforcing the church and her belief concerning the 
word of the living and true God. Now, the book is called Leviticus. That's not the case in the Hebrew 
Bible. The Hebrew Bible takes these 
first five books, and they basically give us the title in terms of 
the first few words in verse 1. So they refer to the book 
of Leviticus under that particular word, and he called. So in verse 
1.1, it says, now the Lord called, literally, and he called. Now, 
the title, as I said, of other books in the Pentateuch in the 
Hebrew Bible come from those initial words. Genesis is in 
the beginning, Exodus is, and these are the names, Numbers 
is in the wilderness, and Deuteronomy, these are the words. Now, our 
English version follows the Latin Vulgate, which follows the Septuagint, 
which calls it Leviticus, that which pertains to the Levites. And while in some sense the priests 
don't get a lot of attention in the book of Leviticus, it's 
a very and thoroughly priestly book. So it's a good apt title 
for this particular book, pertaining to the Levites. Now, secondly, 
in terms of the historical context of the book. Now, it's a multi-volume 
work, the Pentateuch, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and 
Deuteronomy. There's connection, there's overlap, 
there's interplay that occurs in those books. So if we go back 
to the book of Genesis, we know that the creation of the world 
is probably one of the primary concerns in that book, but also 
something that connects Genesis and Exodus and Leviticus and 
Numbers and Deuteronomy is the theme of God dwelling with his 
people. Remember back in the book of 
Genesis, you can turn there, Genesis chapter 3, we notice 
that God dwelt with his people in the cool of the day. In Genesis 
3, they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden 
in the cool of the day. And Adam and his wife hid themselves 
from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 
I've explained before that many see Eden as a sanctuary. It's a temple. It's a dwelling 
place of God with people. And Adam's primary emphasis was 
as a priest, not necessarily as a farmer. Though he certainly 
had an agrarian bent, and certainly he did engage in farming, his 
primary aspect or his primary vocation was a priestly one. He was to extend the garden sanctuary 
to encompass the earth so that the knowledge and the glory of 
God would fill the earth. But we know that he forfeit that. 
And we know that as a result of his sin, that immediate dwelling 
with God ceases. The book of Genesis, chapter 
3, verses 20 to 24, ends with God driving them out from the 
Garden of Eden. So they're planted in this sanctuary, 
then they sin and forfeit that blessed privilege, and then they 
are driven out from there. In fact, Andrew Bonar, in his 
commentary on Leviticus, highlights this connection as he's working 
through the book of Leviticus. He says, the tabernacle was that 
tent whose two apartments, separated by the veil, formed the holy 
place and the most holy. This tabernacle was God's dwelling 
place on earth, where he met with men, the token of his returning 
to man after the fall. It was here that the voice of 
the Lord God was often heard, as in Eden in the cool of the 
day. So there is that obvious link 
in terms of dwelling in the book of Genesis and dwelling in the 
book of Leviticus. But we also know that there's 
dwelling in the book of Exodus. If we break down the book of 
Exodus into the three parts that we considered as we move through 
there, we see deliverance, demand, and dwelling. So the deliverance 
of Israel takes place in Exodus chapters 1 to 18. God shows his 
power in redeeming them from that bondage, from that slavery, 
from that place of consternation. And then in demand, he demands 
in terms of law placed upon them in chapters 19 to 23, they ratify 
that covenant in chapter 24. And then we have the dwelling 
of God with man in chapters 25 to 40. In fact, you can turn 
to chapter 25 in the book of Exodus just to see this theme 
and to see how Leviticus fits with that particular theme. Exodus 
chapter 25, so the new section. After deliverance and demand 
comes the emphasis on dwelling. So in 25.8, God is giving instructions 
for the tabernacle, and He says, "...and let them make Me a sanctuary, 
that I may dwell among them." And then the same emphasis in 
chapter 29 at verse 45, "...I will dwell among the children 
of Israel, and will be their God. And they shall know that 
I am the Lord their God, who brought them up out of the land 
of Egypt, that I may dwell among them. I am the Lord their God." 
So this idea of dwelling God with man is a heavy emphasis 
in the book of Genesis and in the book of Exodus. Well, it 
certainly is in the book of Leviticus. It rallies around the concept 
of tabernacle. Remember, they construct a tabernacle 
according to Exodus chapter 40. It's completed, they erect it, 
they put it up, and then the book of Leviticus comes to deal 
with how does man enter into the presence of a holy God. So 
if you look back at Exodus chapter 40, you see specifically, let's 
see, verse 30. Whenever they went into the tabernacle 
of meeting, and when they came near the altar, they washed, 
as the Lord had commanded Moses. And he raised up the court all 
around the tabernacle and the altar, and hung up the screen 
of the court gate. So Moses finished the work." 
We saw that that language is very similar to what God does 
in Genesis chapter 2. God finished the work of creation. Here, Moses finishes the work 
of tabernacle. And again, the suggestion is 
that these are dwelling places. The earth is obviously God's 
footstool, but it was intended, it was initially intended, again, 
for Adam to extend that garden sanctuary. So this concept of 
dwelling. In fact, many look at the tabernacle 
as sort of a smaller version of the cosmos. You've got the 
outer court, which is the sea, you've got the inner court, which 
is the holy place, and then you've got that holy of holies. So you kind of have that in a 
mountain as well. You've got the base, you've got 
the midpoint, and then you have where Moses goes up to the pinnacle 
of the mountain to meet with God. This is something like the 
way the universe is set up. We have this sternalism, and 
then as we move closer to God, we get higher up the mountain, 
as it were, into heaven itself. And so the concept of sanctuary 
and dwelling. So then, as you move through 
this narrative, notice in verse 34. So Moses and Aaron had been 
present in there, but now that it's completed, look at what 
happens according to 4034. And Moses was not able to enter 
the tabernacle of meeting because the cloud rested above it and 
the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. So you have the completion of 
the dwelling place, but you have the inability of access into 
the dwelling place. So Moses completes it, but Moses 
is not able to enter into it. One man in a very helpful book 
on the book of Leviticus, Michael Morales, says, if Moses is unable 
to enter the tabernacle, then nobody is able. And yet it is 
with this dire reality that Exodus closes. Yahweh God has taken 
up His dwelling on earth, but no human being, no Israelite, 
not even Moses the mediator, is able to approach this abode. So as I think I mentioned as 
we move through Exodus, you see this heavy emphasis on the dwelling 
place of God. This is the dwelling place of 
God, this tabernacle. Now, this isn't exhaustive. We know that God is immense. 
We know that God fills up everything. We know that he's omnipresent. 
But the symbol or the visible representation of God's dwelling 
among men was in this tabernacle. So now this Shekinah glory fills 
the tabernacle, according to the end of the book of Exodus, 
so it's a dwelling place. But it has not yet become a meeting 
place. The children of Israel have not 
been permitted access. They cannot enter into where 
God is, and the book ends, Exodus ends, on a note of tension. That 
introduces the book of Leviticus. Notice where God is when he addresses 
Moses according to 1.1. So Moses is outside, God is within. And then God gives this prescription 
on how it is that man is to enter in. And you see, after engaging 
in the sacrificial system, they finally, Moses and Aaron, are 
able to enter into the tabernacle in Leviticus chapter 9. So what 
does Leviticus teach us? It teaches us that sinful man 
comes to a holy God through a sacrificial system. Sinful man comes to a 
holy God through a bloody knife and a smoking altar. So the sacrifices 
are emphasized in chapters 1 to 7, and then the priesthood is 
emphasized in chapters 8 to 10. So it's not just sacrifice, but 
there's also a class of men that are set apart to function as 
the facilitators and administrators and the ones who bring this process 
into fruition. They're the ones that oversee 
the tabernacle. They're the ones that guard the 
purity of the tabernacle. They're the ones that are tasked 
with making sure that all things are done well. Remember that 
Adam was told to guard the garden. Well, so are the priests called 
to guard the tabernacle. Later in redemptive history, 
you see that they're told to guard the temple. It was to be 
the case that they kept out anything that was impure, and it was only 
to facilitate man's access to the presence of God. Again, Morales 
says, Leviticus not only narrates not only who may enter, but how 
that entrance into the divine presence is made possible. So 
when we go through these sacrifices, the Lord willing next week, well 
again, not every jot and tittle, and intriguingly as you move 
through the sacrifices, it doesn't always tell you why. It's almost 
assumed that they kind of know why, but what's being prescribed 
is the how, the particulars, what the sacrificer is supposed 
to do, what the priest is supposed to do. But with reference to 
this elaborate system, if you follow the flow of the book, 
you've got the tension at the end of the book of Exodus, and 
then you have the resolution in the book of Leviticus. So 
he goes on to say, how God's dwelling may become a place of 
appointed meeting between God and his people. The book of Exodus 
ends, therefore, with the climactic infilling of the tabernacle so 
that it has become, in accord with the promises given in Exodus 
25 and 29, a dwelling without question. What the book's ending 
does question, however, is how this tabernacle will come to 
function as a tent of meeting. In this manner, the tabernacle 
as divine dwelling is the height of Exodus, while the tabernacle 
as meeting place with Israel presents the height of Leviticus. 
So if the high point in Exodus was the building of the temple 
so that God would dwell there, the high point in the book of 
Leviticus is the sacrificial system and priesthood by which 
men now can enter in and commune with his God. So it's not just 
a dwelling place, but it's a meeting place as well. Now, in terms 
of the historical setting, we remember that they arrive at 
Sinai in Exodus chapter 19 at verse 1. There's a great quote 
from a man by the name of Dempster in a good book called Dominion 
and Dynasty. He says, Israel stays at Sinai 
for 11 months in real time, Exodus 19.1 to Numbers 10.11. and 57 chapters in narrative 
time. This is important given the fact 
that 68 chapters precede Sinai and 59 chapters follow it. Sinai 
is central to the Torah. So what happens here for the 
11 months is central to everything that occurs in Genesis to Deuteronomy. The emphasis on the law. And 
with reference to the law, we know that there is the moral 
law, Exodus chapter 20, verses 1 to 17, and then there is the 
judicial law, Exodus chapter 21, 1, to Exodus chapter 23, 
19, and then the ceremonial laws. And Exodus 25, all the way to 
the end of the book of Exodus, deals with a few hitches along 
the way, vis-a-vis the the anti-tabernacle episode of worshipping the golden 
calf, but for the most part, the emphasis is upon ceremonial 
law. So Leviticus extends that. It 
amplifies that. There's moral law, to be sure, 
in the book of Leviticus. There's a section on capital 
punishment for specific crimes against God. So it's not that 
there is no moral law, but the emphasis in the book of Leviticus 
is on ceremonial law. It's on those prefigurements 
that point forward to the coming Redeemer. Our confession defines 
ceremonial law this way. Besides this law, commonly called 
moral, God was pleased to give to the people of Israel ceremonial 
laws, containing several typical ordinances. Remember, a type 
is an event, a person, a place, something that points forward 
to a greater reality, to the anti-type. Not something that 
is against the type, but something that is instead of, in fulfillment 
of, The type. The Bible has lots of types. 
Types and anti-types. The book of Leviticus is typical 
in nature. It points forward to the Lamb 
of God who takes away the sin of the world. The atoning work 
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That doesn't just fall out of 
heaven in the New Testament. They were prepared for this. 
They were tutored in this. They understood the concept of 
the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, in Leviticus chapter 16. The 
whole idea of Israel being a sinful people and the need for a covering 
or a ransom price such that they would have fellowship with the 
living God. So back to the Confession, containing 
several typical ordinances, partly of worship, prefiguring Christ, 
his graces, actions, sufferings, and benefits, and partly holding 
for diverse instructions of moral duties, all which ceremonial 
laws being appointed only to the time of Reformation are by 
Jesus Christ, the true Messiah and only lawgiver, who is furnished 
with power from the Father for that end, abrogated and taken 
away. Now turn to the book of Hebrews, 
Hebrews chapter 9, where you see that language. Hebrews chapter 
9. In fact, the book of Hebrews 
is antitypical to the book of Leviticus. In other words, if 
you don't have any understanding of the book of Leviticus, you'll 
still get stuff out of Hebrews, but it won't be as rich and it 
won't be as wonderful in terms of what God has accomplished 
in the last Adam, our Lord Jesus Christ. Now notice in Hebrews 
9 verse 6, Now when these things had been thus prepared, the priests 
always went into the first part of the tabernacle performing 
the services. That's the holy place. But into 
the second part, the holy of holies, the high priest went 
alone once a year, not without blood. which he offered for himself 
and for the people's sins, committed in ignorance. The Holy Spirit 
indicating this, that the way into the holiest of all was not 
yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing. 
It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and 
sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed 
the service perfect in regard to the conscience, concerned 
only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances 
imposed until the time of reformation." So the confession picks up that 
language here when it discusses ceremonial law to show that the 
time of reformation is in verse 11. But Christ came as high priest 
of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect 
tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. 
Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood 
he entered the most holy place once for all. having obtained 
eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and 
goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifies 
for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood 
of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without 
spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the 
living God? And for this reason he is the mediator of the new 
covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions 
under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive 
the promise of the eternal inheritance. So when we consider those typical 
sacrifices in the Old Testament, and if you look over at chapter 
10, specifically at verse 4, it is not possible that the blood 
of bulls and goats could take away sins. We might ask, well 
why that? What was the utility behind it? 
Well, it did maintain a cleanliness and a purity in terms of the 
people and the covenant that they were a part of. As well, 
it was in fact typical and it fed the faith of the faithful 
and caused them to continually look forward to the Lord Jesus 
Christ. Now they were not saved by the blood of those bulls and 
goats. 9.15 tells us how they were saved. They were saved retroactively 
by the work of the Lord Jesus. Notice, for this reason he is 
the mediator of the new covenant by means of death for the redemption 
of the transgressions under the first covenant that those who 
are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. So 
the book of Hebrews basically explains the book of Leviticus. 
The book of Hebrews basically explains the anti-types relative 
to the types that you see in the book of Leviticus. Not every 
jot and diddle, not everything in Leviticus is going to be repeated 
in the book of Hebrews, but the main sort of emphasis, tabernacle, 
priesthood, When the apostle deals with the priesthood of 
Christ in Hebrews chapters 5 all the way to chapter 10, 5.1 to 
10.18, he's expounding on the priestly ministry of the Lord 
Jesus Christ. He shows that distinction. He's 
not a son of Aaron, but his priesthood is of the order of Melchizedek. 
So he dots all the I's, he crosses all the T's to show us how Jesus 
does fulfill all that is written in the book of Leviticus in terms 
of saving his people from their sins. Now in terms of the actual 
book of Leviticus at Sinai, they're there for one month. So the book 
of Leviticus takes up one month. So in Exodus 40 at verse 17, 
we read it came to pass in the first month of the second year 
on the first day of the month that the tabernacle was raised 
up. And then in Numbers 1.1, you see that we're dealing with 
the same time frame, but later. Now, the Lord spoke to Moses 
in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle of meeting, on 
the first day of the second month, in the second year after they 
had come out of the land of Egypt. So, doing the math, Leviticus, 
they're at Sinai, the foot of Sinai, the base of Sinai, and 
they are there for one month. And they don't ultimately leave 
until Numbers 10-11, but after lots of genealogy there in Numbers 
1-10. So look at Leviticus 1-1. Now 
the Lord called to Moses and spoke to him from the tabernacle 
of meeting. And then over in 25-1. Same emphasis, 
they're at Sinai, they've not moved anywhere, they've erected 
the tabernacle, it's standing, God is tutoring them, God is 
commanding them through Moses on how they approach Him. So 
25.1, the Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai saying, 26.46, 
same emphasis, these are the statutes and judgments and laws 
which the Lord made between Himself and the children of Israel on 
Mount Sinai by the hand of Moses. And then 2734, these are the 
commandments which the Lord commanded Moses for the children of Israel 
on Mount Sinai. So Leviticus, they're not moving 
around. Leviticus, they're not, you know, fighting Ammonites. 
Leviticus, they're at the base of Sinai. They're receiving this 
legislation. The tabernacle is there. And 
they are gaining wisdom on how to approach God. so that the 
dwelling place turns into the meeting place. Now this will 
serve them well, obviously, in the Book of Numbers. They're 
going to be wandering through the wilderness. They're going 
to have their tabernacle. Remember that it's a mobile thing. 
It's not something that is a permanent fixture. That's going to await 
Solomon's reign when they build the temple in the land that God 
had given them. But in this wilderness situation, 
they have this mobile tent. They have different classes of 
Levites that are set apart to carry various aspects of it. 
It's designed to be put up relatively easily so that they can worship, 
so that they can maintain communion with God wherever they find themselves 
in the wilderness. And in the book of Deuteronomy, 
they're at the edge of the promised land, they're in the plains of 
Moab, they're getting ready to go in on the conquest in terms 
of dispossessing Canaan from the Canaanites. And basically, 
Deuteronomy is just a series of exhortations from Moses. Basically, 
Moses says, look back at what God has done, look at what God 
is doing, and look what God is promising to do. And there is 
preparation there for entering into the promised land. Even 
when they get into the promised land, it's not, as I said, until 
the time of Solomon that they have a permanent fixed temple 
that they then have access to God through the sacrificial system. Now, in terms of the theological 
emphases in the book, I would suggest the first one is the 
holiness of God. Not first in order of that's 
it, but This is a primary emphasis throughout the book of Leviticus, 
the holiness of God. And because God is holy, you're 
supposed to be holy also, Israel. In other words, you're supposed 
to be godly. You're supposed to be godlike, 
not divine, not worthy of worship. But godliness means to imitate 
the Lord. And if He is holy, then we must 
be holy. But in terms of the holiness 
of God, before that there is this presence of God. The fact 
that He is their God and they are His people. That's sort of 
the essence of God's covenants with His people. I will be your 
God and you shall be my people. Look at several passages that 
indicate this. Look at chapter 18, specifically 
at verse 2. Speak to the children of Israel 
and say to them, I am the Lord your God. And then verse 4, you 
shall observe my judgments and keep my ordinances to walk in 
them. I am the Lord your God. Verse 5, you shall therefore 
keep my statutes and my judgments, which if a man does, he shall 
live by them. I am the Lord. And then over 
in chapter 19, a similar emphasis in verses 3 and 4. Every one 
of you shall revere his mother and his father, and keep my Sabbaths. 
I am the Lord your God. Do not turn to idols, nor make 
for yourselves molded gods. I am the Lord your God. Dropping down to verse 10. And 
you shall not glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather every grape 
of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the 
poor and the stranger. I am the Lord your God." So the 
presence of God with His people necessitates holiness on the 
part of His people. In other words, because God is 
our God, we're supposed to be kind to our neighbor. Because 
God is our God, we're supposed to revere our mothers and our 
fathers and to keep His Sabbaths. Because God is our God, we're 
supposed to do those things that are pleasing in His sight. And 
then over at chapter 20, same thing, verse 7. So God's presence 
with His people necessitates God's people obeying what He 
commands. And as far as the emphasis on His holiness, turn back to 
Leviticus 11. Leviticus chapter 11, specifically 
at verse 44, for I am the Lord your God, you shall therefore 
consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy, for I am holy. Neither shall you defile yourselves 
with any creeping thing that creeps on the earth, for I am 
the Lord who brings you up out of the land of Egypt to be your 
God. You shall therefore be holy, 
for I am holy. Same emphasis in 19.2. 19. 2. Speak to all the congregation 
of the children of Israel, and say to them, You shall be holy, 
for I, the LORD your God, am holy. 20. 26. A similar emphasis. 20. 26. You shall be holy to 
me, for I, the LORD, am holy, and have separated you from the 
peoples that you should be mine. And then, of course, the most 
pointed lesson concerning the holiness of God is in the judgment 
of Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus chapter 10. So Leviticus chapter 
10, beginning in verse 1, the Nadab and Abihu, the sons of 
Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on 
it, and offered profane fire before the Lord, which he had 
not commanded them. Now that really comes to powerful 
sort of expression when you connect chapter 10 to everything that's 
gone before it. Several sacrifices, detailed 
legislation, this is the way you're supposed to do it. Not 
that way, not that way, it's not up for grabs, but this is 
the way you're supposed to do it. So much so that at the end 
of chapter 9, you see them present a sacrifice, and God approves 
of the sacrifice, and God sends fire down to consume the sacrifice. So now these geniuses take strange 
fire, or profane fire, and offer it before the Lord, which He 
had not commanded them. So you see the emphasis there. 
We're supposed to be holy as God is holy, and that means careful 
attention to the details of His legislation. So fire went out 
from the Lord and devoured them, not their sacrifice, but it devoured 
them, and they died before the Lord. And Moses said to Aaron, 
This is what the Lord spoke, saying, By those who come near 
me I must be regarded as holy, and before all the people I must 
be glorified. So Aaron held his peace. So, 
this emphasis on the holiness of God. You see this in 1 Peter 
1, verse 16. He invokes this from Leviticus 
11 to exhort new covenant Christians to be holy because the Lord your 
God is holy. Well, what does he do? He cites 
Leviticus 11. So the holiness of God is that perfection wherein 
He is separate from us. That's the primary emphasis in 
holiness and sanctification. When we go through the book and 
we see that they're supposed to be a holy people, a sanctified 
people, a consecrated people, a set-apart people. That's the 
primary emphasis. Now, a corollary to that is moral 
purity. God is set apart, He is holy 
other, and He is morally pure. His eye is too pure to approve 
of any evil. So the people of God in sanctification, 
the people of God in consecration or holiness are separate, but 
as well there's that moral purity, there's that element of godliness 
that they sustain. And again, that's what Peter 
exhorts new covenant Christians unto. So the holiness of God 
is certainly a primary theme, theologically, that comes to 
the fore in the book of Leviticus. A second one is the sacrificial 
system. The sacrificial system. You can't 
read Leviticus and miss that. I mean, you're smacked in the 
face with it from 1.2 to 7.38. Again, it's resolving the tension 
that is created at the end of the book of Exodus, where God 
is dwelling, but nobody can enter in. So how do we resolve that 
tension? Well, it's the sacrificial system. 
And the sacrificial system assumes something. If the Bible tells 
us, and Leviticus highlights the perfection of God, which 
is holiness, then we glean from this necessity for sacrifice, 
man's sinfulness. And when we consider the fall 
of man in Genesis, Adam had communion with God in the cool of the garden. 
Adam had that special dwelling with God, but it was forfeit 
by his sin against God. In fact, turn to Genesis 3 and 
see the language that's involved there. Genesis chapter 3. Well 
first, notice in chapter 2, verse 8. Well, look at 2.3. After he's 
created this sanctuary, then God blessed the seventh day and 
sanctified it, because in it he rested from all his work which 
God had created and made. Again, I think there's a reminiscence 
of that in Exodus 40, when Moses completes the tabernacle, it's 
the same sort of a situation. So verse 8 in chapter 2, the 
Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the 
man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the Lord 
God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and 
good for food. The tree of life was also in 
the midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good 
and evil." You know, that sets the stage for the covenant of 
works and the probation that God gives to man. When we know 
that the devil comes, he comes via the snake and tempts them 
and Adam takes the fruit and he rebels against God. And then 
God deals with them very graciously at chapter 3, verse 21. Also, 
for Adam and his wife, the Lord God made tunics of skin and clothed 
them. So He killed animals, took the 
skin off of them, and put them on man and woman, showing the 
need for blood atonement, showing the need for substitution. When 
you get to the book of Leviticus and you see the worshipper go 
with his animal and lay his hand on the animal and then cut the 
throat of the animal, there is a transference going on. There 
is substitutionary sort of atonement themes that come out loud and 
clear in Leviticus. But here in Genesis 3, notice 
in verse 22, then the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become 
like one of us. To know good and evil. I take 
the us there as a reference to the Trinity. To know good and 
evil. And now lest he put out his hand 
and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forevermore. I think the idea here is that 
he doesn't want them confirmed in this state of sin. doesn't 
want them to take from the tree of life while they're in this 
state of sin. Therefore, verse 23, the Lord 
God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from 
which he was taken. So he drove out the man and he 
placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden and a flaming 
sword which turned every way to guard the way of the tree 
of life. So, man is cast out of that special 
dwelling place of God. It goes from meeting place to 
dwelling place, and Adam is out. Get the book of Exodus, same 
sort of emphasis. We've got the dwelling place, 
and yet it has not become a meeting place. And what's one of the 
problems in the book of Exodus? It's man's sin. It's man's rebellion. It's man's desire to make a golden 
calf and bow down to it and worship it and dance around it and confess 
that the golden calf is Yahweh that brought them out of the 
land of Egypt. There's this sin problem that man has, so God 
addresses it. Morales again says, the inability 
to approach God's tent is presented as a problem that needs to be 
overcome by divinely revealed cultic legislation and a consecrated 
priesthood to carry out those sacrifices. Now, cultic, as it's 
used often by Old Testament scholars, is not like Jehovah's Witness. 
Cultus simply refers to the religious apparatus, the religious dealings 
or doings of a people. The word cult is not necessarily 
bad. It's bad when you speak of a 
Jehovah's Witness or a Mormon, something like that. It's a pejorative 
term in that sense. But cult in the Old Covenant, 
it just simply refers to the apparatus by which they approached 
God through the means of sacrifice and through priesthood. So he 
says, let me just repeat that, the inability to approach God's 
tent is presented as a problem that needs to be overcome. Notice, 
not overcome by man's ingenuity, by man's creativity, or by man's 
promise that he'll always obey. It needs to be overcome by divinely 
revealed cultic legislation and a consecrated priesthood to carry 
out those sacrifices. If Leviticus teaches us anything, 
it teaches us the reality that it's God who makes provision 
to his presence. It's not man. It's not man sort 
of finding his way back. It's not man going through moral 
reformation. It's not man saying, you know, 
God, I really miss you. I'm going to do everything I 
can to sort of work my way back into your midst. No, it's God 
who undertakes. And again, you'll see those same 
themes throughout the Bible and especially in the New Covenant. 
Jesus left heaven for us men and for our salvation. We didn't 
go looking for him. He came to seek and to save that 
which was lost. Well, the book of Leviticus functions 
in that manner. God comes to seek and to save 
that which was lost. So there is this sinfulness of 
man that's presupposed by sacrifice. Why do we need to sacrifice? 
Because we're wretches. Why do we need to offer up blood? 
Because without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. 
And if there's no remission, then we die in our sins with 
no presence, no dwelling, no meeting with God whatsoever. 
And then in terms of the necessity of the priesthood, the historical 
situation, the priesthood was tasked with quite a lot of duty 
in this book and subsequent to this in terms of tabernacle and 
then temple. There's a lot of bloodshed and 
a lot of sacrifice made and a lot of offering given up to our God. So you've got the historical 
situation, the Levitical priesthood tasked with facilitating sacrifice 
and the worship of God according to the legislation given by God. But the obvious typical significance, 
all these priests point forward to the one priest, that priest 
celebrated in Hebrews 5 to 10, especially there in Hebrews chapter 
7, where it celebrates the reality that he's the surety of a better 
covenant. that he's able to appease God by the sacrifice of himself. So Christ is not only the priest, 
but he's also the victim. He's not only the offerer, but 
he is the offered. He is not only the priest bringing 
the lamb, but he is the lamb of God himself. And then, as 
I mentioned earlier, there is an emphasis on substitution. Look at Leviticus chapter 1, 
the section that we read. Leviticus chapter 1, verse 3, 
if his offering is a burnt offering, I'm sorry, verse 2, speak to 
the children of Israel and say to them, When any of you brings an offering 
to the Lord, you shall bring your offering of the livestock, 
of the herd, and of the flock. So this is what the worshiper 
does. Before we get to the specific duties of the priest, this is 
what the worshiper does. You go out and later legislation 
will tell you that you're not supposed to pick the lame one. 
You're not supposed to pick, you know, the gimp. You're not 
supposed to pick the blind one. You're not supposed to pick the 
one that you could do very well without. No, you're supposed 
to pick the best. So you go out to your flock on, you know, Friday 
night or Saturday morning and you find something that could 
make you money if you sold it at the market. It could do good 
for you in terms of working your field or your land or whatever 
it is. So you need to go out and you need to find it. And 
then, notice in verse 3, "...if his offering is a burnt sacrifice 
of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish. He shall offer 
it of his own free will at the door of the tabernacle of meeting 
before the Lord. Then he shall put his hand on 
the head of the burnt offering." Again, I think this is symbolic. 
You see it later in chapter 16, when the high priest takes that 
second goat, he lays his hands on the goat, and then he confesses 
the transgression of Israel. And then what does he do with 
that second goat? He sends it out into the wilderness. So you've 
got the one goat that's put to death, and then you've got the 
second goat that has the sins transferred, as it were. He's 
a substitute sent out into the wilderness, never to come back. 
That's the doctrine of expiation. It functions alongside of atonement. The idea is the removal of guilt. 
And so you take your sacrifice, you bring it to the tabernacle, 
you put your hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it 
will be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him. He 
shall kill the bull before the Lord, and the priest Aaron's 
son shall bring the blood and sprinkle the blood all around 
on the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle and meet it. 
So you take your animal, you take it to the tabernacle, you 
put your hand on it, and then you cut its throat, and then 
you hand it over to the priest. So there's that emphasis on your 
participation in this bloody sacrifice. There is this emphasis 
on you, as it were, transferring your guilt to this particular 
sacrificial animal, and then it being offered up to the living 
and true God. One commentator, R. Laird Harris, 
says, in the individual rite, the worshipper brought his sacrificial 
offering to the tabernacle forecourt, laid his hand upon it in a manner 
implying that it represented the offerer himself, and then 
slaughtered the animal. So substitution, and this is 
not brand new in the Bible. Genesis chapter 22, the Lord 
will provide for himself. That scene where Abraham takes 
Isaac up to Mount Moriah to offer him up as a sacrifice. He is 
convinced that the Lord will in fact provide. And then the 
Day of Atonement, you can turn there to see that emphasis in 
terms of substitution. You've probably heard that word, 
yom kippur, it simply means day of atonement. And the word kippur 
means to make atonement. It may be derived from the Hebrew 
word kopher, meaning ransom price. A kopher is the money a man condemned 
to death can pay to escape the death penalty. Kipper to make 
atonement could then be literally translated to pay a ransom for 
one's life. To pay a ransom for one's life. 
So you pay or you slaughter or you provide in the stead of you. and the second goat, chapter 
16, verse 20. And when he has made an end of 
atoning for the holy place, the tabernacle of meeting, and the 
altar, he shall bring the live goat. Aaron shall lay both his 
hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the 
iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions 
concerning all their sins. putting them on the head of the 
goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand 
of a suitable man. The goat shall bear on itself 
all their iniquities to an uninhabited land, and he shall release the 
goat in the wilderness." So, substitutionary atonement. When 
you read the book of Isaiah, specifically Isaiah 53, the suffering 
servant doesn't go there for his own sin, he goes there for 
us. He's a substitutionary curse-bearer. He is a substitutionary wrath-bearer. He takes our place. In my place, 
condemned he stood, the hymn writer says. And so all of that 
is here in the book of Leviticus, prefiguring the glory of Jesus 
Christ. And then a third theme that looms 
large in the book of Leviticus is the purity of man. And by 
purity of man, I mean with reference to the cult, with reference to 
the old covenant, with reference to his relation to God and to 
his community. There's laws concerning cleanliness 
and uncleanness, and there's purity and ritual involved. so that you don't just sort of 
wander into the presence of God. You don't just sort of wander 
in amongst the children of Israel. There's certain regulations that 
you need to abide in terms of being a covenant citizen. So 
I would suggest that the purity of man is seen in the maintenance 
of the covenant relationship. And remember, it's a covenant 
of works. It's a covenant of works wherein 
We need to obey in order to maintain that status. So they had to maintain 
status in terms of this covenant that they were a part of. One 
man, William Dumbrell, says the regulations relating to clean 
and unclean in chapters 11 to 15 reinforce the underlying thesis 
of the book of Leviticus, that holiness, which belongs to God 
by nature, must be reflected in the life of the elect people. 
So when we move through this legislation, some of it seems 
very odd. I'm not going to lie to you. 
You've read Leviticus. You're probably scratching your 
head along the way saying, well, you can't really relate to that. 
Well, there's a reason why. We're not in an Old Covenant 
theocratic setting. We're not at the base of Sinai 
standing next to the tabernacle. We're in a completely different, 
not completely different in the sense that there's no connection. 
But the New Covenant is not like the Old Covenant. It's better. 
It's founded on better promises, and it affords a better hope. 
It has a better mediator. It has a better high priest. 
It has a superior one to effect the salvation of all those whom 
the Father had given Him. So there's a lot in the book 
of Leviticus that probably we're not going to get because we're 
not there. We're not connected. We're not 
a part of it. We read through it and, you know, 
this long treatment on sores and leprosy and, you know, emissions 
and those sorts of things that strikes us as all very odd. But 
again, they're maintaining a purity or a cleanliness level such that 
they can maintain status in terms of God and the covenant community. And then, not only the maintenance 
of the covenant relationship, but also the separation from 
the pagan nations. That's another thing that comes 
out in terms of them being like God. They're supposed to be different 
from the nations around them. If you turn to Leviticus 18, 
you can see that specifically stated. Leviticus 18, this is 
sort of the rationale as to why they're not to engage in incestual 
relationship. Because the heathen do this, 
the pagans do that. Notice in 1824, do not defile 
yourselves with any of these things, for by all these the 
nations are defiled, which I am casting out before you. For the 
land is defiled, therefore I visit the punishment of its iniquity 
upon it, and the land vomits out its inhabitants. You see, 
God doesn't have truck with wicked people. When they engage in lawlessness, 
then the land vomits out its inhabitants. Don't miss that 
language in the book of Revelation. When Jesus says that he'll vomit 
out the Laodiceans for their lukewarmness, Old Covenant, it 
was the land that vomited out covenant breakers. New Covenant, 
it's the Lord Jesus who threatens to cast out. And then notice 
verse 26, You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, 
and shall not commit any of these abominations, either any of your 
own nation or any stranger who dwells among you. For all these 
abominations the men of the land have done, who were before you, 
and thus the land is defiled. Lest the land vomit you out also 
when you defile it, as it vomited out the nations that were before 
you. For whoever commits any of these abominations, the persons 
who commit them shall be cut off from among their people. 
Therefore you shall keep my ordinance, so that you do not commit any 
of these abominable customs which were committed before you, and 
that you do not defile yourselves by them. I am the Lord your God." 
As I've shared before, when they act like the Canaanites, they 
get vomited out of the land, just like the Canaanites. So 
this is an arbitrary on God's part. It's not a capriciousness 
on God's part. When Israel apes the Canaanites, 
then the land is going to vomit them out through Assyria and 
through Babylon. So God's standard, God's holiness 
applies with reference to Israel like it applies with reference 
to the Canaanites. And then finally, in terms of 
the outline of the book, basically there's four major sections. 
First, the laws concerning sacrifice. That's chapter 1, verse 1 to 
chapter 7, verse 38. Then you've got the institution 
of the priesthood, 8.1 to 10.20. Third, you've got the uncleanness 
and its treatment, 11.1 to 16.34. And then finally, prescriptions 
for practical holiness in 17.1 to 27.34. So it's as if the paradigm 
is to have status with God and then to maintain status with 
God. Now remember, it's a covenant 
of works. So it's not altogether the same as the covenant of grace, 
but there are similarities. You see sort of a justification 
motif in terms of sacrifice and substitutionary atonement for 
our acceptance with God. And then you see that sanctification 
element where they engage in purity, where they engage in 
cleanliness, where they engage in those things to maintain that 
relationship. And again, we can't press that 
too hard. Because Jesus is the covenant 
head. Jesus fulfills the righteousness of God. He fulfills the substitutionary 
curse bearing. But you see some similarities. 
Not only acceptance with God, but maintenance of that relationship 
in terms of the conduct placed upon them. And then, of course, 
within those four categories, there's a whole host of things 
in terms of various legislation with reference to the people 
of God. Well, I'll close in a word of prayer, and if there's any 
questions or comments, we can deal with that. Our Father in 
heaven, we thank you that this book addresses how can sinful 
man stand in the presence of a holy God. And though it is 
a covenant of works, the answer remains the same. Without the 
shedding of blood, there is no remission. And we thank you for 
the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. We thank 
you for the blood of Christ that brings forgiveness of all of 
our sins. And we just rejoice that all these types are fulfilled 
in that great antitype and in the gospel of our salvation. 
Help us as we move through this book to have a constant reminder 
of your holiness, a constant reminder of the glory of Jesus 
Christ as our High Priest. And may we indeed worship and 
glorify and honor you. and we pray through Christ the 
Lord. Amen.