Leviticus

Overview – March 2014 – Grace & Truth Magazine

Leviticus

“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.’” —Leviticus 10:3 NKJV

Leviticus is named for Levi, whose name means “joined.” It is a book that deals with God’s holy principles in joining His people to Himself as worshipers. Thus the great theme of Leviticus is that of drawing near to God in holy worship. Therefore we are first faced with the offerings necessary for approaching God: the burnt offering, meal offering, peace offering, sin offering and trespass offering, all of which are pictures of the one offering of Christ in its various aspects. The priesthood too is prominent. Aaron is a type of Christ, the Great High Priest; his sons are a type of all believers of this present Church age who are called “a holy priesthood” and “a royal priesthood” (1 Pet. 2:5,9).

Various other laws also appear in this book. Defilement disqualified one from approaching God until such time when it was cleansed away by God’s appointed means. The eating of unclean meats was forbidden. This symbolized the refusal of that which is morally unclean. Leprosy, typical of the corruption of sin at work in an individual, rendered the person unfit to draw near to God. So did other kinds of ceremonial uncleanness, but only because such are typical of moral or spiritual defilement. We no longer observe the type, but we see the reality of what the type is intended to impress on us.

Chapter 23 lists the seven feasts of Jehovah to be kept by Israel, not for their own pleasure, but in the worship of God. All of these feasts point to the greatness of God’s own work in His dispensational dealings.

By Leslie M. Grant

This column is taken from the book: The Bible, Its 66 Books In Brief.
It is available from the publisher:Believer’s Bookshelf USA.