The Grace Campus Leadership Initiative has been a blessing for all of us, bearing much fruit as we study, contemplate, and discuss truths about scripture, leadership, and and Church history. In the past few weeks, we have spent notable amount of time studying the book of Leviticus through the lenses of Ray Stedman in his book The Way to Wholeness.
Each of us then asked ourselves the question, “What does the holiness of God, revealed through his specific instructions for Israel, mean for my life?”
Our various responses served to encourage our team, and we hope that by sharing them that faith would rise inside of you as well.
Leviticus provides a blueprint for us to be whole and complete. The instructions given for temporal sacrifices point us to the permanent Sacrifice. The mandates on the clothing of the priesthood (found in chapter 6) foreshadow the armor of God that we find offered to us in Ephesians 6. The law, in every detail, points to the cross.
Leviticus allows us to catch a glimpse of holiness in the shadow of all the symbols. I learn that I am incapable of righteousness in my own strength. I find that in seeing God’s holiness, I can see my own holiness because he is in me and I in him. God says “I am,” and because my identity is in him, I live out of that. Holiness puts fear in me that draws me closer instead of pushing me away.
Leviticus comes down to two main things for me. The first is that all of our needs can only be met in Christ. The need to belong, respond, restore, confess, and to be at peace with the Lord are all met by the blood of Christ that flowed once for all. We are now whole in him when we accept that. The second truth is that we are to live as a priesthood. Our responsibility is to connect a lost and dying world to the person of Jesus Christ. The work of a priest was completed in the tabernacle. We are now the tabernacle and therefore are able to complete the work of our priesthood.
Leviticus is an outline of God’s parameters for our relationship with him. It is his invitation to us to experience his wholeness. He created us to live out of that wholeness, but we have all walked contrary to his plan for us and are broken. His law was meant for our good. It is not to measure our performance but to invite us into fullness of life.
Leviticus shows me God’s infinite holiness. It gives me a healthy fear and asks me to respond. The truth in this book reminds me of who I am and what I am worth. He tells me I lack nothing, and I live out of overflow. I belong to him. As he says, “you are mine,” I am led to repentance.
Leviticus reminds me that He is holy and whole. He does not change. He is in me. Therefore, I am immovable in him. Even if everything else changes, this constant is comforting.
We hope that the truth we have learned would overflow into your lives as well.
