Posts from 2022 (Page 23)

  DISCUSSION                                                 Chapters like Leviticus 22 and 23, and many others in this book, form the background to much New Testament teaching.  Christ is both the perfect priest and the perfect victim.  His bride is the church, whom he is sanctifying to make her “without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:27).       We see here that the demand for holiness…

  DISCUSSION                               “You must be holy, for I am the Lord your God am holy” could be described as the motto of Leviticus.  This motto reminds Israel of its fundamental calling to be a “holy nation” (Exodus 19:6).  The people of Israel are to imitate God, whose essential nature is holiness.      Holiness is thus not so much an abstract or a mystic idea, as a principle that regulates everyday life.  Holiness is thus attained not…

  DISCUSSION                                     Leviticus 14-15 deals not with the cure of leprosy, but with the ceremonies affecting the reception of the healed person back into the communion with the covenant people and his re-admission to the status that he formerly held in the community and within his family. These complicated rituals are admittedly very ancient and their appearance here is altogether consistent with their having been included here, at God’s command, by Moses himself.  Medical knowledge was…

  DISCUSSION                                       Have you ever wondered how people learned what they could and couldn’t eat?  Some animals are poisonous while others are harmless.  The same is true with plants.  I have often thought that people ate things then others saw their reaction to it and knew not to eat that plant or animal.  In our Leviticus 11-13 we see that God did list clean and unclean animals for the Jews.  Even today there are…

  DISCUSSION              God had given Moses orders to consecrate Aaron and his sons to the priests’ office when he was on Mt. Sinai (Exodus 28-29), where we have also the particular instructions, he had now to do it.  The Tabernacle had newly been set up and God was ready for Moses to consecrate the priests to being their duties.        He called the people together at the door of the tabernacle.  The court of the tabernacle,…

  DISCUSSION:                                               Leviticus 5-7 relates the procedures for a sin offering.  We can see that this offering involved the blood of the animal.  Specific handling of the blood is given that no one could misunderstand how important the blood was.       History reveals to us that the blood of the sacrifice was collected in a horn or cone shaped vessel.  The vessel was designed in such a way that it could not be set…

  DISCUSSION:                                           The third book in the Pentateuch is called Leviticus because it relates principally to the Levites and priests and their services. The book is generally held to have been written by Moses.   Leviticus is filled with the meticulous procedures for sacrifices and the duties of the Levites.  The offerings that were given by the Jews to God differed in what was offered and who received the offering.   The burnt-offerings had regard to God as…

  DISCUSSION:                                                It must have been a very exciting time for Moses, Aaron and the children of Israel.  The Tabernacle was complete; everyone did their part to fulfill what God had asked them to do and now they were about to enjoy the benefit of having the presence of God with them in their camp.  Before Moses, Aaron…

  R. C. Sproul tells the story of when he was a college professor. At the start of the semester, the class of about 150 students had three papers due, let’s say, at noon on October 1st, November 1st, and December 1st. The penalty for a late paper was a zero grade. At noon on October 1st, 140 students strolled in and put their papers on his desk. Sproul asked the 10 students whose papers were late, “Where are your papers?” …

                  Their names are not the kind of names that you would be quick to recall as what role they played in the Bible, yet they were very valuable to God in the plan that He had set in motion.  Oholiab just so happens to be one of those men that doesn’t get the attention that Moses and Aaron get in the story of the Exodus, yet his role is very important.  The Bible says in Exodus 31:1-5,…

                  The book of Hebrews tells us that God uses the Old Testament to describe types and anti-types in the New Testament.  The reading for today is exactly that.  As you look at the description of the Levitical priests that are mentioned within the book of Exodus, it can make you wonder how these passages apply to you? Jesus is a type of High Priest in the Old Testament. The lesson for us today lies in the detail and…

                                      I remember the scene well; Indiana Jones had just fallen into the room that was full of all those snakes, and remember, he hates snakes! As he and his partner remove the top of the tomb that unveiled the Ark of the Covenant, the room lit up as if Gods presence had just been uncovered.  That is exactly what the Ark of the Covenant represented during the days of the Old Testament; the very presence…