Leviticus Unveiled and Revealed: The Lamb and the Altar - the Lamb of God and the Cross

By Jim Taylor

There are many who feel that Leviticus is a dry, dull, and boring book. That is not so. The gospel is the life, the teachings, and the cross of Jesus, the Son of God. The only way that a person in this present age can have the forgiveness of sin and peace with God is through the gospel of Jesus the Son of God. The gospel is not dull and boring. It is the most read, the most cherished, the most translated, and the most published literature in the entire world. However, the Law of Moses, and the Levitical sacrifices that were part of that law, was the gospel of the Israelites. It was through the Law of Moses and the Levitical sacrifices that a person who lived before Christ could have the forgiveness of sin and peace with God, and therefore it cannot be dull and boring.

This book is intended to make the book of Leviticus a living book and a very interesting Bible study. It will open up the Levitical letter and make it interesting by making it easy to understand. The book itself is easy to read and understand. It is written in a way that is quite reasonablein other words, it just makes sense. The purpose of this book is to give a portrayal of the Levitical sacrificial system, what the sacrifices meant to the worshipper who offered them, their purpose, what they accomplished, how God viewed them, and how they were fulfilled in Christ. That is all accomplished by very careful scriptural references that establish the points that are made in the book. When a person understands why there were so many different sacrifices such as the burnt offering, the meal offering, the peace offering, the guilt offering, the sin offering, the trespass offering, and othersand then he sees that each one of those sacrifices served a different purpose and they were all fulfilled in Christ is different ways, Leviticus becomes a book that you just cannot put down.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jun 28, 2016
• ISBN: 9781512747737

Jim Taylor

Jim Taylor is Vice Chairman of Harrison Group and one of the country’s leading experts on marketing, branding, and wealthy consumers. Doug Harrison founded Harrison Group in 1996 and develops branding strategies for some of the world’s most successful companies. Stephen Kraus has a Ph.D. in social psychology from Harvard University and leads Harrison Group’s training and wealth consultancies.

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Copyright © 2016 Jim Taylor.

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This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

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Scriptures marked ASV are taken from the American Standard Version (ASV): American Standard Version, public domain.

ISBN: 978-1-5127-4774-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-4775-1 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-4773-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016910339

WestBow Press rev. date: 6/28/2016

This book is dedicated to Gerald Paden. Gerald was a missionary in Italy for many years, and for some forty years he was an instructor in the Sunset International Bible Institute. He developed and taught a course on Leviticus (The Levitical Sacrificial System), and he is the brother who gave me the idea and much of the material for this book. I could never have written this book without Gerald and his influence. Gerald deserves full credit. He, at the age of ninety, has gone home to his rest in heaven. His influence will be felt for many years to come.

This book is also dedicated to the Sunset International Bible Institute (SIBI) in Lubbock, Texas, where Gerald taught. That is the school where I received my Bible education which allowed me to become a minister for the Church of Christ (the Poncha Springs Church of Christ) for twenty-four years. After the work Judy and I did in Poncha Springs, Colorado, we were able to help restructure the Church of Christ (Iglesia de Cristo) in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, Mexico.

CONTENTS

About This Book

Preface

Introduction

CHAPTER 1 The Whole Burnt Offering

(Leviticus 1:1–17)

CHAPTER 2 The Meal Offering

(Leviticus 2:1–16)

CHAPTER 3 The Peace Offering

(Leviticus 3:1–17)

CHAPTER 4 The Sin Offering

(Leviticus 4:1–5:13)

CHAPTER 5 The Trespass Offering

(Leviticus 5:14–6:7)

CHAPTER 6 The Consecration of the Temple and the Levitical Priesthood

(Leviticus 8:1–36)

CHAPTER 7 The Death of Nadab and Abihu

(Leviticus 10:1–20; 16:1–2; Numbers 3:1–4)

CHAPTER 8 The Passover

(Exodus 12:1–51; 13:1–16; Numbers 3:11–13, 40–51; Leviticus 23:4–8)

CHAPTER 9 Pentecost

(Exodus 34:21–26; Leviticus 23:10–22; Deuteronomy 16:9–12; Acts 2:1–47)

CHAPTER 10 The Great Day of Atonement and the Great Day of the Cross

(Leviticus 16:1–34; 23:23–32; Numbers 29:7–11)

CHAPTER 11 Leprosy—the Cleansing of a Leper and the Cleansing of a Sinner

(Leviticus 13:1–59; 14:1–57)

Conclusion

ABOUT THIS BOOK

There are many who feel that Leviticus is a dry, dull, and boring book. That is not so. The gospel is the life, the teachings, and the cross of Jesus, the Son of God. The only way that a person in this present age can have the forgiveness of sin and peace with God is through the gospel of Jesus the Son of God. The gospel is not dull and boring. It is the most read, the most cherished, the most translated, and the most published literature in the entire world. However, the Law of Moses, and the Levitical sacrifices that were part of that law, was the gospel of the Israelites. It was through the Law of Moses and the Levitical sacrifices that a person who lived before Christ could have the forgiveness of sin and peace with God, and therefore it cannot be dull and boring.

This book is intended to make the book of Leviticus a living book and a very interesting Bible study. It will open up the Levitical letter and make it interesting by making it easy to understand. The book itself is easy to read and understand. It is written in a way that is quite reasonable—in other words, it just makes sense. The purpose of this book is to give a portrayal of the Levitical sacrificial system, what the sacrifices meant to the worshipper who offered them, their purpose, what they accomplished, how God viewed them, and how they were fulfilled in Christ. That is all accomplished by very careful scriptural references that establish the points that are made in the book. When a person understands why there were so many different sacrifices such as the burnt offering, the meal offering, the peace offering, the guilt offering, the sin offering, the trespass offering, and others—and then he sees that each one of those sacrifices served a different purpose and they were all fulfilled in Christ is different ways, Leviticus becomes a book that you just cannot put down. For instance, the burnt offering was not so much a sacrifice as it was an act of worship, and it was not fulfilled so much in the cross of Jesus as it was in his living a perfect life constantly devoted to his Father—Jesus lived a flawless life every moment of every day to the glory of his Father, and that was his burnt offering sacrifice that he offered up to God. We, as Christians, can do the same thing with our lives (Romans 12:1–2).

When an Israelite offered the burnt offering, he fumed to God from the altar of burnt offerings an entire animal, from the teeth to the tail. That sacrifice went up to God as an aroma of a sweet smell. What God viewed in that sacrifice was an animal that had been fumed to him as a substitute for the life of the one who offered it—but the life he saw in that sacrifice was the worshipper’s flawless life in all of its beauty and perfection—he saw a life that was devoted to him every moment of every day. Christ is the fulfillment of the Levitical burnt offering, and he is the Christians’ burnt offering. When a person becomes a Christian, the life of Christ in all of its perfection and beauty becomes the life of the Christian. Colossians 3:3–4 says, "For ye died, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall be manifested, then shall ye also with him be manifested in glory." Christ did in actual reality what the burnt offering, and all of the Levitical sacrifices did in a type and shadow—he made Christians perfect, and Christians are perfect in the eyes of God. A Christian serves God every moment of every day continually without flaw or blemish because Christ lived and died to make them that way. When God views the life of a Christian he does not see that person at all, what he actually sees is the life of his own Son, Jesus, living in them.

When a person offered the meal offering he gave to God his entire crop—he gave all of his increase and everything he had to the Almighty. Then God gave it all back to him and to the family who had offered it to him, and they understood that they were living on what God had given them—they were not living on what they had made for themselves, but on the blessings God had poured out upon them.

When a person offered the peace offering he did not offer it to make peace with God—he offered it to celebrate the peace that he had with the Almighty through his faith, and by doing his best to keep the Law of Moses. After a person had offered the burnt offering which represented giving his life to God, and then the meal offering that represented giving everything he owned to God, he had perfect peace with the Almighty. That is when the worshipper offered the peace offering to celebrate that peace. The peace offering was a festive banquet in which God was the host and the worshipper was his guest. It was a family dinner, and God was the Father who offered it.

When a person offered the sin offering he sacrificed an animal to take his guilt and die in his place for that sin. The sin offering was offered when no damage could be assessed by any material or financial problems that the sin had caused. It was the trespass offering that was offered when the transgression had caused a material or a financial loss to the person who was transgressed against, and then the sinner had to pay in full for all the damage he had caused by his trespass—then he had to add an additional twenty percent to that amount, and then he offered a ram for his trespass offering, and a ram was a very expensive animal.

Every Christian should be very grateful that he is not under such a complex system of law and ordinances, and that he is completely forgiven of all sins and trespasses in Christ—who fulfilled the Law of Moses completely by nailing it to the cross. The only sacrifice a Christian has today is the life and the cross of Jesus. That makes salvation and peace with God a very simple matter for the Christian today, although it was an extremely complex problem for God.

The Thomas Nelson American Standard Version Bible (ASV 1901) was used for all scriptural references in this book.

PREFACE

Jesus said he did not come to destroy the Law or the prophets. He said he came to fulfill them (Matthew 5:17–18). If Jesus had destroyed the Law and the prophets he would have abolished them so thoroughly that it would be as if they had never existed. But Jesus did not destroy the Law and the prophets by fulfilling them—he accomplished their purpose. Therefore, the Law and the prophets still exist today as a powerful testimony that express the way God wants his children to live, that is, in perfect obedience to him and his will—but they also still exist as a testimony to the supremacy and love of God. It was the Law of Moses that God gave to Israel that presented his children with a way out of sin and death. However, having been fulfilled, the Law no longer has any authority over any person, not even the Jews (Galatians 5:4; Colossians 2:14–17). It is Jesus, the one who fulfilled the Law and the prophets, who now has all of the authority that before had existed in the Law. Jesus has been given all of the authority of God so that he rules over all things in the place of his Father (Matthew 28:17–20; John 14:6; 1 Corinthians 15:27–28). That was his reward from his Father for becoming a man and redeeming the world through his life and his cross.

Jesus fulfilled the Law by keeping it perfectly with flawless obedience (2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 4:15). Jesus fulfilled the prophets by doing everything that the prophets said the Messiah would do—from his virgin birth to his death on the cross. Therefore, there was no more need for the prophets when their purpose had been fulfilled by the Messiah who came and fulfilled them.

By Jesus’ victory over temptation and sin he proved that he had all authority over the Law. Jesus was born under the Law of Moses and he kept that law perfectly (John 8:46; Galatians 4:4; Hebrews 4:15). By his perfect life of obedience he proved that there was no Law, not even the Law of Moses that had any authority over him. The law has authority over a person only when it is broken (1Timothy 1:9). As a result of Jesus’ flawless obedience the authority of the Law was annulled and that authority was all given to Jesus. Under the New Covenant it is Jesus who is the law and the authority over his children in place of the Law of Moses (Matthew 28:18; Galatians 6:2). There was no more need for a law written in stone after Jesus had perfectly fulfilled it, and he wrote the Law of love in the hearts of his children (2 Corinthians 3:2–3).

When Jesus fulfilled the Law and the prophets he became the perfect and holy sacrifice to take away the sin of the world. John the Baptist said, On the morrow he seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world! (John 1:29). By taking the guilt, the shame, and the punishment for all sin upon himself—and by paying in full for all of the devastation that sin had caused—Jesus relieved every sinner from the guilt and punishment they deserved so they could be set free from it all (John 3:16–18; Galatians 5:1).

By Jesus’ perfect sacrifice he restored the entire creation back into its original beauty and perfection. That new creation is the church. It is also the new world that is yet to come after this world has perished in fire—a world wherein dwells righteousness (2 Peter 3:10–14). That new world is the home of the church, the house of God, where he and his children shall live forever.

All of that was accomplished by the work of Jesus and the grace of God, and not by the works of men. Ephesians 2:8–9 says, "For by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, that no man should glory. Titus 3:4–6 says, But when the kindness of God our Saviour, and his love toward man, appeared, not by works done in righteousness, which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy he saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, which he poured out upon us richly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour. What we must do is believe in God and accept his mercy and grace, and then humbly give him our lives by keeping his commandments. Micah 6:8 says, He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth Jehovah require of thee, but to do justly, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with thy God? Hebrews 11:6 says, ….and without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing unto him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that seek after him. First John 5:3 says, For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous." Justice is receiving exactly what we deserve. Grace is receiving all good things from God that we do not deserve. Mercy is not receiving the punishment that we do deserve because of our transgressions.

When Jesus died on the cross he gave his flawless and holy life so that it might become the perfect and holy life of every person who believes that he is the Son of God, and that he had died on the cross for them. Jesus died to forgive men of sin and to make them free—free from law, sin, and death. Galatians 5:1 says, For freedom did Christ set us free: stand fast therefore, and be not entangled again in a yoke of bondage. Galatians 5:13 says, For ye, brethren, were called for freedom; only use not your freedom for an occasion to the flesh, but through love be servants one to another."

The power of the cross is infinite. It has no limit. The cross not only forgives all sinners who believe, repent, and turn to Jesus for forgiveness—it also fulfilled and took away the entire Law of Moses. That is an extraordinary event and an infinitely majestic accomplishment. Before Jesus died on the cross the Law of Moses was the only way that a person could have the forgiveness of sin (1 John 1:7) and peace with God, and to be in covenant relationship with the Almighty. But the cross abolished that law and took away the some 613 laws and ordinances, the Ten Commandments, and all of the different sacrifices that were offered for different purposes and various reasons. Jesus abolished the law, and a law system that was so complex it took the priests and the lawyers years of study just to administer it correctly—and then Jesus summed it all up in one simple law, if it can be called a law. The new law is love God and love your neighbor (Matthew 22:35–40). That new law is the law of Christ (Galatians 6:2) and the law of Liberty (James 1:25; 2:12). That is a law we can keep perfectly, for it is the law of love.

The Levitical sacrifices all had different meanings. The burnt offering could be offered only by a person who was not a sinner, or one who was in covenant fellowship with God. It was not so much a sacrifice as it was an act of worship. It represented the worshipper devoting his life to God perfectly and completely, just as the sacrificial animal was entirely fumed to God from the altar. That animal was fumed to God from the teeth to the tail as an aroma of a sweet smell to God (Leviticus 1:9). That sacrifice represented the life of the worshipper being devoted to God perfectly and completely every moment in every day from the beginning to the end.

The sin offering was offered because of a violation of one of the first five of the Ten Commandments, or a sin against God. It was also offered when one had violated the rights of a brother, but no value for the damage that the trespass had caused could be established, such as coveting something he had. The trespass offering was offered because of a violation of one of the second five of the Ten Commandments, or an infringement against a neighbor. That sacrifice was offered when the amount of the damage the trespass had caused could be established. The thank offering and the peace offering were offered in appreciation for all of the goodness and love of God. Jesus’ life and his cross summed up the entire Law of Moses and all of the sacrifices that were ordered by that law. He made them one simple law and one all-inclusive offering to God when he died. Jesus put all of the Law and all of the sacrifices together into one simple command when the Hebrew writer said, "….and without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing unto him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that seek after him" (Hebrews 11:6). Micah, in his immortal words said,

Wherewith shall I come before Jehovah, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves a year old? will Jehovah be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth Jehovah require of thee, but to do justly, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with thy God? (Micah 6:6–8)

It is an amazing achievement for Jesus to turn such a complicated system of law and sacrifice into something that a simple minded person could understand (Isaiah 35:8), and that law is—love God, and love your fellow man (Galatians 5:14).

When we walk in faith and love we are seen by God as keeping his law flawlessly, even though we know we sin and have blemishes (1 John 1:5–7). That is because the same mercy and grace that forgave us of our sins when we were baptized is the same power and love of God that continually keeps on cleansing us and keeps us holy and righteous (1 John 1:6–7; 3:6–9). Romans 13:8–11 says,

Owe no man anything, save to love one another: for he that loveth his neighbor hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not covet, and if there be any other commandment, it is summed up in this word, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: love therefore is the fulfilment of the law.

Galatians 5:14 says, "For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Jesus summed up the first five of the Ten Commandments in one word when he said, Love God! He summed up the second five in another word when he said, Love Your Neighbor!"

When a person believes that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God, and he is baptized in water, he is immediately baptized into Christ and into his death. Romans 6:2–3 says, Or are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him through baptism unto death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. The new life we walk in is the life of Jesus. When we are in Christ our life has died and disappeared because Jesus has become our life. Colossians 3:2–4 says, "Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are upon the earth. For ye died, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall be manifested, then shall ye also with him be manifested in glory." Therefore, when God looks at us to judge us, he does not see us at all—he sees Jesus, his only begotten Son in all of his beauty, holiness,