Embedding Leviticus

As the Book of Exodus comes to a close, the people of Israel witness the creation of the Tabernacle and its furnishings. The Tabernacle is a portable place of worship for God’s people. Its design was specifically laid out by God and stands as an invitation for man to approach God. The sacrifices offered here bring forgiveness and grace to man. In reading about its building, we can sometimes get lost in the details, but there is an overlying picture that is present.

Exodus 30:10 introduces a word that is used for the first time in the ESV Bible. That word is atonement. I remember back to my 3rd-5th grade Bible class where Coach and Mrs. Goode explained what atonement meant. Making it simple, we learned that atonement meant that we were made one with God. Atonement means, “at one.” It is a great picture of a difficult concept.

Think for a moment what it means to be “at one” with God. To be at one with God means that sinful man must experience a cleansing. Sin must be washed away. God must offer forgiveness and grace. To be at one with God means leaving the world behind. God takes us out of the world and transforms who and what we are. This transformation is the process of sanctification or God making us holy. Being at one with God means that we share a relationship with God. We stand as the people of God and God gives Himself to us in order to lead and guide us. Atonement then provides forgiveness, transformation, and relationship. The Tabernacle becomes a place for God’s people to experience the joy of atonement, to be changed in order to be “at one” with God.

This idea of atonement saturates the last chapters of Exodus and carries over into the first chapter of Leviticus, and through the entire Book of Leviticus. The Tabernacle is the place of atonement and Leviticus shows us the details and provides the promise of ongoing guidance by God as we live and walk with Him.

Coming to the Book of Leviticus is often like reading a book of rules and regulations. Don’t get me wrong, Leviticus has a lot of rules. Leviticus uses this format to lay out the boundaries that God’s people live in. It gives clear direction on how we are changed to reflect the nature and character of God. Embedding Leviticus is not about drawing up a list of rules, it is about seeing the heart of God and surrendering our lives to live in the grace of God.

Atonement is an important concept, and it is a concept we are familiar with. We find our atonement in Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross. We come to the Book of Leviticus with a picture of atonement already embedded in our lives. We know about Jesus as sacrifice, high priest, and the Son of God. Leviticus gives the Israelites a picture of atonement in sacrifice, dietary laws, and a guide for living with our fellow men. Our perspective is different from the Israelite perspective, but they are not two different things. It is a matter of which side of the cross you live on. Living after the cross, the pictures in Leviticus should spark remembrance of the life, work, and character of Jesus as we read through its pages.

As you approach Leviticus, keep in mind that one of the major themes is God’s invitation to man to live together. Remember that God is at work bringing us to be “at one” with Him. Connect the pictures to Jesus. See the great lengths that God goes to in order for us to understand the power of the cross and the love of God.