What Studying the Old Testament Taught me About the Gospel Part 3: A Constant Reminder

The book of Leviticus is a call to “Be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy” (Leviticus 19:2).

God’s holiness is the standard for absolute perfection. Since He is too holy to dwell with sinful people, He gave His people a way to live with His presence. To be holy is to be set apart, and the Lord had set them apart to be His chosen people, and to worship Him in the way He deserves to be worshiped. In the days of Leviticus, this meant prioritizing cleanliness and offering sacrifices to atone for the sins of the people. But the sacrifices were costly, and had to be repeated often because they were only temporary atonement and could not fully cleanse the people from their sin.

The book of Leviticus highlights important distinctions between what was holy and common and clean and unclean, and these distinctions are significant because if God was going to dwell in the midst of the people, they were to be holy. This had an important influence on the organization of the camp, in that the tabernacle in the center of the camp was holy and the twelve tribes encamped in a circular boundary around the tabernacle were to be kept clean. The priests were considered holy, and the Israelites were considered clean. The surrounding nations were considered unclean, as were the people living there. Even the tabernacle was structured in this way, and the Holy of Holies, which housed the ark of the covenant, was the most holy place, set apart from the rest of the tabernacle.

There is a great emphasis on holiness and Sanctification in the book of Leviticus. Since holiness is always associated with God, it is thus associated with wholeness and perfection, and God’s people were to keep His statutes in order to be holy in His presence. As T. Desmond Alexander said in From Paradise to the Promised Land, “To be holy is to live in a way that reflects the moral perfection of God; it is to live a life marked by love, purity, and righteousness, which are the three most important hallmarks of perfect behavior.”

Studying the book of Leviticus caused me to see sacrifices and ceremonial cleanliness in a different light. Before taking my Old Testament class, I thought there was no purpose in studying Leviticus because I thought it didn’t apply to my life. I understood the statues and laws of Leviticus to be inconvenient and didn’t think they were necessary to study since “now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian (the law), for in Christ Jesus (we) are all sons of God, through faith” (Galatians 3:25-26). We no longer have to make sacrifices to God because He sent the ultimate sacrifice, Jesus Christ, to die for our sin once and for all.

Knowing that the keeping of the law and the offering of sacrifices sanctified the people and gave them a way to live in a close relationship with God’s presence, I wondered why they were not thankful for these statutes and did not obey them wholeheartedly. After thinking about this for a while, I realized that sinful hearts naturally want to remain in their sin rather than purify themselves to be holy before the living God. I would like to think that if I had been in their place I would be grateful for the law, but I confess I can’t rightly say that because I, like everyone else, am also sinful.

What then would cause a sinful heart to want to be close to God? The realization of their total depravity and dependence upon the Lord for their very lives.

The law and sacrificial system was a constant reminder – and still serves as a reminder today – that we will never come close to being perfect, but since the Lord is a God of love and mercy, any closeness to Him is a worthy pursuit.

Today’s post is the third in a four-part series on studying the Old Testament. To read my previous post, click here! Series Introduction. Part One.