Leviticus? Really?

Been working through some Old Testament, specifically Genesis through Leviticus this week. I know you’re thinking that you want to click out of this post because I am about to talk about Leviticus, but don’t. I have been learning some, but I want to learn more.

If you don’t know, through most of Exodus the Bible is narrative and easy to follow along. In fact, I believe there is so much to learn about the nature and character of God just through the end of Exodus. God created the world and filled it with His Glory, but sin entered the world through man. God chose a people for Himself. God shows himself faithful and sovereign countless times. God delivers His people from slavery. God paints pictures of Jesus and His future sacrificial atonement on the cross. So much good stuff packed into these two books.

However, once you hit Leviticus you really get into some of the nitty-gritty of the Law that God gave to Moses to give to the Israelite people. I am not sure if I have actually ever read Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy in their entirety, but I will be in the next week or so. I have been a little hesitant about reading through these books, but a few things have kept me going.

1. The Israelite people only had these first five books of the Bible for a very long time, but still managed to know God and follow Him.
2. Paul says that ALL Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and so much more.

Here are a few thoughts about Leviticus and the ‘less-stimulating’ parts of the Old Testament thus far:

• God is Omniscient – God knows the details. The tabernacle building instructions were elaborate and extremely meticulous with detail. The different rituals for different kinds of sacrifices were very detailed. God is showing us that He knows all and is in all.
• God is Creator – God knows the beauty, form, function, design and purpose of every thing that He creates (specifically in the Tabernacle). God also created you and I, and thus He knows us intimately and knows the beauty, form, function, design and purpose of every one and every thing.
• God is Holy – God sets a standard of right/wrong, clean/unclean, pure/impure, and holy/unholy for His people to understand that He is Holy. Completely set apart and righteous. God is the definition and essence of all that is right, just, clean and pure.
• God is Redeemer - The Law came that we might know our wickedness and our need for penal substitutionary atonement, which just means that we need someone to take the punishment that we deserved. God knew that we would not love Him with all that we have by obeying His Law, but God did not create rules just because He knew we could not keep them. God wanted to show His love for us by sending His son to Redeem.

I know that there is so much more to these verses that I do not get, but these are some big truths that God has revealed through these Scriptures that seem quite boring at first glance. If you have any thoughts or insight, I would love to hear it.

Father teach us about You through everything that we go through. Help us to love You!