Leviticus 1 — Thoughts

Is Leviticus Just a Book of Rules?

It would be easy to dismiss Leviticus as a book of rules for the ancient Hebrew ceremonial system. Priestly duties. Animal sacrifices. Sacred Festivals.

When do we get back to the action?

But there’s actually a deep meaning behind everything described in Leviticus. This book isn’t really about rules; it’s about holiness. The holiness of God, and the holiness of His people.

The trouble is, God’s people aren’t holy on their own. We’re sinful. We need something else to make us holy.

But even in the days of ancient Israel, it wasn’t the priests, sacrifices or festivals that made God’s people holy — it was what these things pointed to.

The animals sacrificed pointed to our Substitute. The flawlessness of those animals pointed to the sinlessness of that Substitute. The priests laying their hands on the animals pointed to our sin transferring to that substitute. And the blood on the altar pointed to the blood that would save us.

The sacrifices in this chapter — like all the sacrifices in the book of Leviticus — point to Jesus, the ultimate Sacrifice.

Leviticus shows us what it takes for sinful people to be made holy enough to be God’s people. It takes Jesus.