A one-of-a-kind Bible book
February 3, 2009 (Tuesday)
The good thing about reading the Bible through from start to finish is that you read parts of it that you don’t ordinarily see. I’m in that part right now, the heart of the book of Leviticus.
It’s sort of hard to read, because it talks about things so unfamiliar to us, like the dietary laws, ceremonial cleanness and uncleanness, the duties of the high priest and his associates, a lot of stuff about the human body that many of us don’t like to think about, much less read on purpose. But it’s all there.
I found help in appreciating Leviticus in a sermon by Ray Stedman, in which he pointed out that the main idea for the people of God in Leviticus is that He wants them to be holy. Stedman reminds us that the root idea in the word, “holiness,” is “wholeness.” God wants his people to be whole. That idea has special relevance to us today, when so many people are “broken.”
The entire sacrificial system was a constant reminder to Israel that the nation was special to God, and that He had a purpose for them unlike anything else. Ultimately, they were to bring the Savior to the world, and the many laws and ceremonies, predominately the presence in them of sacrificial blood, would enable us to understand what Jesus did for us, and why His death was necessary.
Today, Believers in Jesus as the Son of God and the Savior of the world are the people of God (“.. You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” (1 Peter 2:9-10 NIV). Christ nailed the old laws to the Cross (.. “He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.” (Colossians 2:13b-14 NIV).
In the meantime, I read on. Tomorrow I’ll read about the Day of Atonement. You can read the Bible through any time you like; you don’t have to start on January 1, like I did this time. Why not join me?