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November 14, 2019

After spending a couple of weeks in the book of Exodus, we moved on to do a broad overview of the book of Leviticus. As you probably know, Leviticus is arguably one of the most difficult books in the New Testament to read as it doesn’t make much sense to us in our current context. It’s seemingly just a book of laws that, frankly, seem insignificant and quite strange. But it serves a vital purpose in moving the story of the Bible along, which is what we talked about last night.

At the end of Exodus, in chapter 40, we read about how God’s glory fills the tent of meeting, but Moses is not able to enter because God’s glory is so intense! We’re left at the end of Exodus to wonder, how is God going to dwell among His people if they can’t even be near Him? The answer is the book of LEVITICUS! In Leviticus 10, God commissions the priests to teach the congregation, and to separate between the clean and the unclean. Sinful humanity cannot enter into the presence of God in its current state, so God gives His people a list of that which is unclean, and provides a way for cleansing for His people throughout the book! As with all of God’s plans, IT WORKED! We read in Numbers 1:1 that Moses is actually able to be in God’s presence as he enters the tent of meeting!

We ended the night by talking about how God’s purpose is never to give us a list of rules to follow mindlessly. What God cares about is the heart behind the rules. In giving the Israelites a list of clean and unclean things, He opens up their eyes to that which is holy, and that which is unholy. Then, He provides them a way to be CLEANSED! It’s all for the purpose of helping His people to draw near to Himself, and to become dependent on Him for cleansing. The connection for us is that we too need cleansing, just as the Israelites did. But instead of performing ceremonial cleansing and sacrifices, God sent His son Jesus to be the perfect sacrifice, cleansing us from ALL transgression and sin forever so that we CAN draw near to God and be indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The book of Leviticus therefore helps us to see our DIRE need for trusting in Jesus as our cleansing, purifying Savior.

Here’s some questions to reflect on with your students this week: 

• Why do you think that God created so many rules for His people to follow?
• What do you think is God’s heart behind all the rules He created?
• Think back on this last week for a moment. How many times do you think that you’ve broken God’s rules?
• When you think about all of God’s rules that you’ve broken, what are you compelled to do in response? Does it make you want to draw near to God, or to do “better next time?”
• God sent Jesus because we ARE sinful, and we could never earn righteousness. God’s desire is for us to draw near to Him so that He CAN provide healing, and cleansing. How can you draw near to God this week?

With you and for you in Christ.