Set Apart: What It Means to be People Who Please the Lord

1. Questions to Ask When We Read the Bible

(1) Where does this in the biblical storyline?

(2) What does it teach me about ?

(3) What does it teach me about how to in a way that pleases God?

(4) How should I understand this in light of , the gospel, and the New Testament?

2. The Biblical Storyline:

Adam → Abraham → → David → Jesus

3. An Overview of Leviticus

(1) The Five Major Sacrifices/Offerings (Chapters 1-7)

(2) Establishing the Priesthood (Chapters 8-10)

(3) Clean and Unclean: Ritual Purity (Chapters 11-15)

(4) The Day of Atonement (Chapter 16)

(5) A Call to (Chapters 17-27)

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets;
I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
¹⁸ For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota,
not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.
(Matthew 5:17-18, ESV)

 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for
reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, ¹⁷ that the man
of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
(2 Timothy 3:16-17, ESV)

 “The New is in the Old concealed, the Old is in the New revealed.”
(Augustine)

So what are our big takeaways from Leviticus so far?

1. God expects us to be – from the world and to the Lord.

“For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any swarming thing that crawls on the ground. ⁴⁵ For I am the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.” (Leviticus 11:44-45, ESV)

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, ¹⁵ but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, ¹⁶ since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:14-16, ESV)

2. Because God is holy and we are sinful, we all need a (a mediator, a go-between) to bridge the gap between us and God.

• In Leviticus, the priests were “Aaron and his sons” (8:1, ESV).

• Now, is our Great High Priest.

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. (Hebrews 4:14, ESV)

3. As our Great High Priest, Jesus has offered the full and final for  sins.

• In Leviticus, sacrifices were offered – “And the priest shall make atonement for him for the sin he has committed, and he shall be forgiven” (5:10b, ESV).

• Now, Jesus has offered on the cross “ for ”to secure the forgiveness of all who repent and believe in him.

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) ¹² he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. ¹³ For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, ¹⁴ how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
    ¹⁵ Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, . . .

    For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. ²⁵ Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, ²⁶ for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. ²⁷ And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, ²⁸ so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. (Hebrews 9:11-15a, 24-28, ESV)