The Big Read – Leviticus

Powerpoint Pictures: Shoes by front door; Toilet seat up; No hitting sign; Child tidying up; Please and Thank You note; Where’s Wally Picture

Most of us will have ‘house rules’.  Rules like take your shoes off by the front door, put the toilet seat down, no hitting, tidy up after yourself, say please and thank you, or if you want something come and find me.

Did you know that God has house rules too and has given us a whole book telling us what they are.

Leviticus tells us what God’s house rules are.

It was written to tell the people of Israel how they could live with God, and it tells us how we can live with God too.

In order to be able to live with God, it says we need to be holy – we need to live in a way that shows what God is like.

“I am the LORD who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.” (Leviticus 11:45)

The problem is that because of our sin, like the people of Israel were, we are not holy.

So how can we live with God?

Leviticus told the people of Israel that they needed three things.

They needed to offer sacrifices to God to take the punishment their sin deserves.  They needed a priest to offer those sacrifices to God for them.  And they needed a holiness that they did not have.

All the rules about sacrifices, priests, and how to be holy, told them that they needed to trust in Jesus because Jesus is the sacrifice they needed, the priest they needed and the holiness they needed to live with God.

And we need to trust in Jesus too, because Jesus is the sacrifice we need, the priest we need, and the holiness we need to live with God too.