The Book of Leviticus is the sequel book of the Bible to Exodus. The events depicted in Leviticus follow immediately, and continue, the events that were underway when Exodus ended.
Exodus concluded with the construction of the tabernacle, and its ceremonial furniture, and the Lord appearing at the tabernacle with the cloud of smoke above the ark of the covenant and the mercy seat.
Leviticus provides to us a detailed description of the Lord’s laws and ceremonies which were to become a major part of the lives of the Israel people in their daily worship at the tabernacle and in the operation of their lives.
Leviticus is a book of specific laws, and specific ceremonial practices and of the various complexities of the important doctrine of sacrifices.
The entire book of Leviticus takes place while the large mass of Israel people are wandering in the desert after the great Exodus from Egypt, but before their conquest of Canaan.
Leviticus is not the most popular book of the Bible in terms of regular readership. It is rarely the focus as the theme of a minister’s Sunday morning sermon. Yet the details of the ceremonies and laws described in Leviticus are extremely important to an overall understanding of the primary religious doctrine of the Bible. The book of Leviticus is an important one in order for a person to understand the eventual sacrifice of Christ, and the reason such a sacrifice was needed for our redemption.
To fully understand the importance of Jesus Christ’s New Testament sacrifice for the Lord’s people, one needs a basic understanding of the importance of the Lord’s command for ceremony and sacrifice that is so completely detailed in Leviticus.
The apostle Paul clearly understood the crucial nature of good background knowledge of the Leviticus book. For example, in Hebrews we are told by the Apostle Paul of the importance to each of us of a basic understanding of the Old Testament law of ceremony and blood sacrifice in order that we fully understand and appreciate the "new" covenant for us made through of the sacrifice of Christ. See Hebrews Chapter 8:13, 9:15 Read Hebrews chapters 8, 9 and 10.
The Apostle Paul summarizes the Old Testament blood sacrifices, the elaborate tabernacle ceremony and the works of the high priest at the tabernacle. Hebrews 9:1-10.
"Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary." Hebrews 9:1. He goes on to briefly describe what the Book of Exodus and Leviticus provide in great detail.
But then Paul talks about the purpose of Christ to the following of the Old Testament law:
"But Christ being come a high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building. Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us." Hebrews 9:11-12.
Apostle Paul importantly ties in for us the necessity of a good understanding of the Old Testament ceremonial law, so that the sacrificial work of Christ in our behalf makes sense under the law. As Christ himself stated, He came to fulfill the law, not to destroy it. Matthew 5:7.
In fulfilling the law detailed in large part in Leviticus, Christ established the new covenant :
"And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance." Hebrews 9:15
The Apostle Paul then gives us a present day fundamental principle of American probate law (such as when each of us writes our "Last Will and Testament"): a "testament" requires the death of the testator. "For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth." Hebrews 9:16-17.
In describing how the sacrificial act of Christ is important to fulfill the Old Testament, Leviticus-detailed law of blood sacrifice, Paul states: "And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission." Hebrews 9:22.
Paul tells us how Christ, as our high priest, did not enter into the man-made holy place of the tabernacle, "but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us." And Christ did not have to made repeated blood sacrifices (as did the priests yearly in the events we will outline in upcoming discussions ):
"But now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.....So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation."
Hebrews 9:26-28.
The Book of Leviticus, which will be summarized and outlined in forthcoming "Tour of the Bible" articles, has an extremely important role in providing us the background of ceremonial and blood sacrificial law established by the Lord for the Israel people.
It is important that each of us has a basic understanding of the Lord’s very specific requirement for sacrifice and ceremony. If the Lord blesses each of us to understand the Book of Leviticus and the Lord’s old covenant requirements described therein; then we are overwhelmed by the wonderful blood sacrifice Christ has made in our behalf.
That is what the Apostle Paul is trying to tell us in Hebrews.
In the next issue we will begin from Leviticus summarizing, not in detail but in general concept, the ceremonies and sacrifices that the Lord required of the Israel people. The sacrifices, taken out of context, are the foundation of the beliefs of many cults today who still believe in actual, live animal and human sacrificial doctrines.
As we go through these ceremonies and sacrificial procedures, it will be important to relate them to Christ, for He was the sacrifice for each of us in the same manner that was required of the Israel people in the tabernacle.
That is what the Apostle Paul is trying to tell us in Hebrews.
Next: Leviticus’ covenant worship and sacrifice at the tabernacle