Parts of it were too much of a trudge, Leviticus for example.
Hi, Katia.
Leviticus becomes a lot less "of a trudge" when we see the many different foreshadowings of Christ within it.
For example, the high priest's role back then points directly to Christ's role now as our High Priest or the one mediator between God and man.
Similarly, all of the different sacrifices for different types of offenses point to Christ's sacrifice on our behalves for the different types of offenses we have committed against God.
Peter said:
I Peter chapter 1
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17] And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:
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18] Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
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19]
But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
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20]
Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
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21] Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.
Jesus truly is "a lamb without blemish and without spot who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world", and this is what all of the Old Testament sacrifices point us to.
With this in mind, it's no wonder that John the Baptist said the following about Jesus:
"The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." (John 1:29)
In other words, all of the Old Testament sacrifices, like the ones we read about in the book of Leviticus, foreshadowed or pointed to Jesus Christ, the true "Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world".
Furthermore, the Bible comes to us in the form of two "testaments"...the Old Testament and the New Testament.
While contrasting some major differences between the Old Testament and the New Testament, this is what the Bible has to say about a "testament" itself:
Hebrews chapter 9
[13] For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctified to the purifying of the flesh:
[14] How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
[15]
And for this cause, he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
[16]
For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
[17]
For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise, it is of no strength at all while the testator lives.
[18]
Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood.
[19] For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people,
[20] Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God has enjoined unto you.
[21] Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry.
[22] And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
[23] It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
[24] For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:
[25] Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest enters into the holy place every year with blood of others;
[26] For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world has he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
[27] And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
[28] So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
Under the Old Testament, a system of bloody animal sacrifices, like the ones we read about in the book of Leviticus, was instituted by God as a means of atoning for one’s sins.
Why the need for bloody sacrifices?
Well, as the writer of this epistle rightly noted, “where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator, for a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise, it is of no strength at all while the testator lives” (vss. 16-17).
In other words, if you or I write a “last will and testament”, then it doesn’t go into effect until the time comes that we die, and there are no beneficiaries of our testaments until that time comes.
And so it is with both the Old Testament and the New Testament.
Under the Old Testament, God gave us his commandments which rightfully condemn each and every one of us because we have all violated them a vast multitude of times over the courses of our lifetimes.
For example, who among us can honestly say that we’ve never borne false witness or lied?
Who among us can honestly say that we’ve never stolen anything…irrespective of its value?
Who among us can honestly say that we’ve never looked upon another person lustfully, which Jesus Christ equated with committing adultery in one’s heart (Matt. 5:27-29)?
Worse still, who among us can honestly say that we’ve always loved God with our whole heart, soul, and mind while also loving our neighbors as ourselves?
It is upon these TWO COMMANDMENTS that Jesus Christ said all the commandments written in the law of Moses and the prophets hang (Matt. 22:35-40).
With such being the case, the list of indictments against us is innumerable, as our sins against God and our neighbors are stacked up to the highest heaven.
That’s the bad news.
The good news or "the gospel" is that, even under the Old Testament, God implemented a system in which an innocent animal was sacrificed for the sins of guilty men, women, and children, and the death of that innocent animal is what made that testament of force, or put it into effect, or made individuals beneficiaries of the promises which were given under that testament. Again, a testament is of no value whatsoever until a death occurs.
However, and this is a BIG HOWEVER, those sacrifices could never truly purge the consciences of those who had broken God’s law, and there was therefore always a remembrance of one’s sins as future sacrifices needed to be made, even as the writer of this same epistle went on to explain:
Hebrews chapter 10
[1] For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
[2] For then would they not have ceased to be offered because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins?
[3] But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.
[4] For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
[5] Wherefore when he came into the world, he said, Sacrifice and offering you would not, but a body have you prepared me:
[6] In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you have had no pleasure.
[7] Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do your will, O God.
[8] Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin you would not, neither had pleasure therein; which are offered by the law;
[9] Then said he, Lo, I come to do your will, O God. He takes away the first, that he may establish the second.
As we just read, the law was only “a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things” (vs. 1).
Again, all of the animal sacrifices under the Old Testament foreshadowed the ultimate sacrifice which was yet to come:
The sacrifice of Jesus Christ, “the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).
THIS is the only sacrifice which can truly “purge your conscience from dead works” in order that you might be able “to serve the living God” (Heb. 9:14) without a guilty conscience because Christ has sacrificially borne your guilt and shame, and THIS is what we constantly see foreshadowed in the book of Leviticus.
After his resurrection from the dead, Jesus appeared unto his disciples and said:
Luke chapter 24
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44] And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you,
that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.
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45]
Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,
There are many things "which were written in the law of Moses (the first 5 books of the Bible, including the book of Leviticus), and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me (Jesus)." Jesus opened the understanding of his disciples back then that they might truly and properly understand the scriptures, and he'll do the same for you today if you but ask him to.
Anyhow, I hope that what I've written somehow helps you to better understand the Bible when you read it.
Have a blessed day in the Lord.
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