JUL 16

Leviticus 20:7-8
Memorise Leviticus 19:2
“Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy”

Often times when people attempt to read through the Bible from the start to the finish, they would not have much problem with Genesis and may struggle a little bit with the second half of Exodus. However, when they get to the book of Leviticus, it seems they hit a brick wall, lose all momentum, and then give up as quickly as they started.

However, if you really did take time to study and ponder the contents of the book of Leviticus properly, you would realise that it is in fact a book rich with meaning, with many lessons to be learnt on how we as children of God ought to obey our holy and perfect God.

One line that is repeated a number of times throughout this book, and aptly sums up the theme of this book is “be ye holy: for I the LORD thy God am holy” (Leviticus 11:44, 19:2, 20:7, 26, 21:8). Clearly, the focus of this book is to teach Israel how they ought to approach the thrice holy God. It gives them very clear and detailed guidelines as to what His expectations are with regard to their manner of worship through the offerings and sacrifices, how they ought to deal with uncleanness. They are even told what food is clean to eat, how they ought to conduct themselves daily, and various other miscellaneous instructions with regard to their day to day lives. Through these, they were able to see the high standards of holiness that God has set. They were to be a national witness for God, and so they were to live in such a manner that the nations around would see and know that they worship a true and living God. At the same time, through the continual need for cleansing and offerings for sin and uncleanness, they realized the futility of trying to attain salvation by works, and instead look forward to the hope of a Messiah who could come and save them once and for all.

For us today, the many ceremonial and civil laws of Leviticus no longer apply. We are not the nation of Israel anymore, but children of God in the body of Christ. Yet we are still called to be a witness and testimony for our Lord Jesus Christ. The same standards of holiness still apply, and so what we can draw from the book of Leviticus is not the letter but the spirit of the law, whereby we see God’s high standards for holiness, and the importance of separation from the world and sin.

Thought: God is Holy, so I should strive for holiness too!
Prayer: Lord, help me to be holy in all my thoughts, words and actions.