Amalgamblog

God’s recently lead me to read and study the first 5 books of the Bible, known as the Torah or the Pentateuch. I heard a sermon on Joshua 1 and realized that the specific “book of the law” he’s talking about studying day and night is not the whole Bible as I’ve always interpreted it, but rather the Torah that Moses wrote. Then I read my roommate’s blog where he said that his seminary professor said we should “study the living tar out of the Pentateuch” because Jesus is all over it. So through that I viewed it as God’s prompting me to dive in and look for Christ in those books.

And, man, have I found Him.

Where did I start? Leviticus. Why? Well, besides Numbers I was pretty familiar with the other books of the Torah. Plus, Leviticus is probably the least desirable book anyone wants to read in the whole Bible…it kinda gets a bad wrap, doesn’t it? What impression do you have of it? Probably that it’s a boring, long list of mundane, nit-picky laws that don’t apply to us anymore. I mean just looking at the chapter headings there appears to be weird passages about infectious diseases, and what kinda material you can have in your clothes, and even regulations about mildew?!? Well, I set those impressions aside and asked God to open up this book to me, and He has.

I’ve only read three chapters so far, but God has shown me a lot– About the Cross, and the atonement, and the significance of blood, and the sacrifice of Jesus. The first three chapters lay out different types of sacrifices the Lord requires of and accepts from His people — the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the peace offering — and the cool thing is they all point to Jesus and how his sacrifice, once for all, fulfilled all of those things (and more) for us, His people. It’s making sense out of a lot of what I’ve been reading this year in Hebrews with my dgroup; and showing me all Christ accomplished through the cross. Plus, God through this study, is really getting me ready for Easter and Holy Week. I already view the cross differently and am more thankful for all Christ did there.

And all those weird laws and regulations? We’ll see when I get there, but some of the reading alongside my study is showing that God is saying throughout the book through the law, “Be holy, as I am holy.” Why? Because He loves us and wants to have fellowship with us. Christ came to fulfill the law (because we can’t) and restore that fellowship. That’s the Good News of the Gospel, in weird ol’, barely-read Leviticus. Who’d a thunk it?

All that to say, if you’re looking for something to study, check out Leviticus. You’ll meet Jesus there.

Guess we’ll tackle Numbers next.

Tags: blood, Cross, Easter, Jesus, Leviticus, Pentateuch, Torah

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 4th, 2009 at 1:56 pm and is filed under Faith. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.