Leviticus 19 starts with this command: 1The LORD also said to Moses,
2“Give the following instructions to the entire community of Israel. You must be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy. Leviticus 19: 1-2 (NLT) The entire chapter is devoted to various commands promoting personal holiness. In Leviticus 19:18 we read: 18“Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against a fellow Israelite, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD. Leviticus 19:18 (NLT) “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Thousands of years later when Jesus would be asked, “What is the greatest commandment in the Law?” He would respond, “Love the LORD, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and all your strength. This is the first and greatest commandment, and a second one is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus took that command from Leviticus 19:18. While Leviticus as mainly rules about sacrifices, Leviticus chapter 19 reminds us all the commands in Leviticus were designed to shape Israel into a holy people, who would reflect the holiness of their God. We find no more practical command in pursuing personal holiness than this one to love our neighbors as ourselves. When we share the love of God, which we have received, with one another, the natural outcome is lives of personal holiness.
Leviticus 20 offers the punishment for various forms of disobedience. Many of the offenses listed required capital punishment. This extreme punishment shows how serious God was about personal and corporate holiness for the Israelites. While Jesus would later tell us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, God told Moses to show no mercy to those who broke the Law, and the judgment for the crimes listed in Leviticus 21 was either death or being “cut off” from the people. Some see two different Gods in Jesus and the God of the Old Testament, but there is only one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The same God who pronounced judgment on the Israelites for committing specific sins, judges us for our actions. Jesus reminded us we will give an account for every idle word we speak. The grace and mercy of God is much more obvious in Jesus, although we find it all through the Old Testament. In the same way, the New Testament makes it clearl we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ when this life is over. Thankfully, that judgment won’t mean death, because Jesus paid that penalty, but when we read the Bible, we dare not think of one God of the Old Testament and Jesus a different God of the New Testament. There is one God who is holy, and who calls His people to holiness.
Leviticus 21 takes the command for personal holiness directly to the behavior of priests. In general, priests were prohibited from becoming “unclean” by touching dead people, although exceptions were made for close relatives. In addition, the priests weren’t to marry a woman who had been divorced or had engaged in prostitution. When it came to the high priest, he was not permitted to become unclean by touching any dead person, even his father or mother. In addition, he was only permitted to marry a virgin woman from within his own clan. Once again, these commands might seem strange to our ears, but the goal was to ensure those who administred the law and rituals of the faith of the Israelites modeled behavior that reflected holiness.
Leviticus 22 applies the holiness rules to the offerings presented to God, and to which priests would be counted worthy to eat the portions of the offerings devoted to them. The key phrase is “without defect.” In other, words, the people were to bring their best to God. We see this principle throughout Leviticus and is a principle that applies to us today. In Philippians 2:12-13, the Apostle Paul reminded us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling–obviously meaning we are to offer God our best. He concluded the thought by adding: for God is at work in you to will and to work for His good pleasure. The amazing difference for us is because Jesus fulfilled the commands of the Law, both in dying in our place as the once-and-for-all sacrifice for our sins, and in being perfect in every way, we receive that inputed holiness from Him when we are born again. We can live in His power through the Holy Spirit. That does not negate the need for our effort. We must do all we can do, and give our best to God., but that will fall short. God makes up the difference through His work in us. What an incredible truth!
Today, we turn to the Gospel of John. After reading through Mark’s Gospel twice, we will embark on two readings of John, before moving to a double reading of Matthew and finally a double reading of Luke. One of you asked me, “Why are we reading each gospel twice, when we have to get through the whole Bible in a year?” The short answer is: I want us to have a thorough introduction to the life, ministry, teaching, death and resurrection of Jesus. We will read through the entire Bible in a year. Yet, my goal is not simply for us to get through the Bible. I want to get the Bible through us. As we’re reading through Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, it would be easy to forget these books point toward Jesus, if we weren’t reading the Gospels at the same time. In addition, we won’t get to the New Testament until day 288 in our day-by-day readings. Without a companion reading from the Gospels each day, it would be easy to give up on our quest to read through the Bible in a year. I know many who have done so. Many folks have told me they “tried” to read through the Bible from beginning to end, but when they got to Leviticus or Numbers it was too hard, or didn’t make sense, or was boring. The daily companion posts are intended to help by explaining some of the connections between the daily Old Testament readings and the New Testament. They’re also intended to explain some of the passages in a bit of detail, although not as a scholarly commentary would do. My goal is to help us live the Bible. The daily gospel readings help us to stay anchored in the life of Jesus all through the year.
John 1 is unlike the beginning of any of the other gospels. While Matthew and Luke tell us about Jesus’ birth, and Mark starts with the ministry of John and Jesus’ baptism, John offers us a theological explanation of Jesus being with God from the beginning. John’s gospel was written last, and John’s goal was much more to show Jesus is God, and as he tells us in chapter 20 he wrote so we may believe Jesus is the Messiah and have life in His name. In John 1 we’re also told Jesus was full of grace and truth. This powerful combination is what brings us from the judgment of the law, which was truth without grace, to the freedom of new birth in Jesus! Much more about this in the days ahead.