I’ve been reading Leviticus for the past couple of days, and let me just say that it is no easier to read it now than when I first read it. It’s just a tough book, with a culture that’s totally foreign to us. But thankfully, the Holy Spirit still teaches me some cool insights about reading it. And if you ever read it, maybe you can consider these thoughts…

  1. Worship Costs Us Something
    In Leviticus, God outlines to Moses the prescriptions for sacrifice and offerings. The burnt offering, the grain offering, the peace offering, etc… for each offering, there is a prescription of what needs to happen.

    Bring a bull, bring a ram, bring a pigeon, etc. I noticed that these were all things that the people worshipping had to provide for themselves. I mean a bull was not cheap you know. And in order for them to worship, they had to bring hard earned animals, who they’ve either paid an expensive price for, or spent years raising, to bring to the alter of God.

    And if the prescription for worship in the OT was costly, why should we think it strange that it costs us something to worship God?

    Even David confessed, “I will not offer to the Lord that which costs me nothing.” (2 Sam 24:24) Do we have the same attitude? Do we see the worship the same way?

    Yet you will find that our worship services and times of praise are catered to our convenience as opposed to a context which costs us something to worship God. You will find that we are unwilling to worship freely and unhindered because we are too cheap to pay the cost of foolishness in worship. You will find that you will not find anyone willing to jump around the streets worshipping Jesus among the pagans for the same reasons. Because we are unwilling to pay the cost for true worship, God is robbed.

  2. We Have a Higher Standard of Holiness
    In reading Leviticus, I am usually thinking of how bad the people in the OT had it, and how strict their lifestyle was. Their prescription for holiness, cleanliness, and acceptable-ness were exact and rigid. I’m looking from a perspective that probably views ourselves as “more free” and with less restraint.

    But I was kindly reminded while reading that while God’s prescription for holiness is perhaps different for us, God’s standard of holiness has not changed.

    He is still the same God who dwells in unapproachable light, who has seraphim and cherubim before Him day and night crying out “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty…” And the calling that he gave to Moses’ people ‘Be Holy, for I am Holy’ (Lev 19:2) is given to us as well in 1 Peter 1:16. God expects his people in the New Testament to be holy as well.

    But consider this: If Moses’ people were expected to live a standard of holiness in the context of the OT, without the help of the Holy Spirit, how much more are we expected to be God’s holy people, we who have the living God inside of us enabling to do such a thing?

    We may not have “Holy is the Lord” branded on our foreheads, but we sure should have that statement branded in our actions- when we eat, when we drink, when we work, etc.. We may not scriptures on our doorposts, on our sleeves and whatnot, but we sure should have the scriptures written upon our heart.

    We have every ability, if not more, to live the holy life God expects of us. And God’s prescription of holiness in Leviticus should only remind us of that fact.

So these are the things that God’s been teaching me in Leviticus!

Have a great day!