“In this way the priest will make atonement for him for any of these sins he has committed, and he will be forgiven.” Leviticus 5:13a
If you were to make a list of your top ten books of the Bible, what would they be? I can guess a few books that might be on that list: Romans, John, the Psalms. I might not be able to guess your actual top ten. However, I think I could probably do a pretty good job of guessing a book which would not be on your list of top ten books: Leviticus!
Recently, my personal devotions have found me in the book of Leviticus, the third book of the Bible. For close to a year, now, I have been slowly working through the five books of the law (the Pentateuch), known in Hebrew as the Torah: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The fact that after ten months I am still barely halfway through indicates the pace at which I am reading through the Torah.
I am a firm believer that “all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). However, I must confess that Leviticus has never been in my top ten. One look at the commentaries in my library confirms this truth: Number of volumes on Genesis, 8; Number of volumes on Leviticus, 1!
I am guessing many pastors would give a similar testimony on Leviticus. Why? For one thing, it is filled with what may seem like rather tedious descriptions of how various sacrifices and offerings are to be carried out. Second, some of the issues it describes (e.g., cleansing from mildew) are not necessarily teachings which touch on our deepest spiritual struggles.
It is for these reasons that I am surprised at some of the rich truth I have found in this book of late. Certainly, I have read Leviticus before, at different times in my life. But I think it is fair to say that I have never gotten as much out of a reading of Leviticus as I have this go around—not even close! And at the heart of my recent enjoyment of this book has been its teaching on the sacrificial system and atonement.
The word atonement is one we occasionally see in Scripture and hear at church. But what does it mean? It is a translation of the Hebrew word kafar. In seminary, this was one of the easiest words to memorize because kafar sounds like cover, and that is what it literally means, “to cover over.” However, this definition also belies one of the weaknesses of atonement in the Old Testament. For, literally, the sacrifices of the Old Testament were only a temporary “covering over” of sin.
In one of the bedrooms in my house, there is a burn spot in the floor that is rather ugly. However, because we have a rug strategically placed to “cover over” that burn spot, it is not visible. Now, the rug does not make the burn spot go away, it simply hides the burn spot. In the same way, atonement in the Old Testament did not permanently deal with sin, but temporarily covered it over to allow fellowship between God and man.
We learn in Hebrews 10:1-4 about the temporary nature of atonement in the Old Testament law:
The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
According to Hebrews, these sacrifices were only reminders of sin, for they did not have the power to remove the sin. The Old Testament law, therefore, was only a shadow of good things to come. It looked ahead to the time when sin would be paid for in the once for all sacrifice of God’s Messiah. As we read a few verses later, “And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10).
Ultimately, it is this truth that gives meaning to the sometimes tedious narrative of Leviticus. For the repetitive teachings on sacrifice in this book provide a stark contrast to the wonderful, once for all sacrifice of our Savior. Our sin is no longer merely covered over, we have been forgiven, forever, and cleansed completely. “We have been made holy!”
May we learn to live, more and more, resting in Christ’s completed work of atonement and spreading this Good News until His return!
In Him, Pastor Dan