"After forty days Noah opened a window he had made in the ark and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth. Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. But the dove could find nowhere to perch because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark. He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth."~Genesis 8:6-11

Monday, April 1, 2013

Leviticus

Leviticus is the third book in the Pentateuch and was written by Moses.  The book was written during the time that these events were occurring (as God was passing on this laws to Moses), so the people who experienced these things first-hand and who would be reading this book were the same people.  They were Israelites, and for the first time since the Garden of Eden, God was dwelling with his people.  They had just been taken out of Egypt, where they had been slaves for 400 years, and they were about to make their way to the Promised Land.

 Aaron shall present the bull as a sin offering for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. He shall kill the bull as a sin offering for himself.~Leviticus 16:11

 Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood inside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, sprinkling it over the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat.  Thus he shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleannesses of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions, all their sins. And so he shall do for the tent of meeting, which dwells with them in the midst of their uncleannesses.~ Leviticus 16:15-16

 And when he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat. And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness.~Leviticus 16:20-21

 And it shall be a statute to you forever that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict yourselves and shall do no work, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you.  For on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the Lord from all your sins.~Leviticus 16:29-30

 OBSERVATION

What does God promise about the tenth day of the seventh month when they afflict themselves and atonement will be made for them?
They shall be clean before the Lord from all of their sins.

INTERPRETATION
How would the people first receiving these rules feel about this?
Well, it tells them that they do not only need their sins to be forgiven, but also that they cannot do it themselves.  The elaborate process tells them that it is something far beyond their own ability, it is even beyond the ability of the priest, it is God who set up the system and provided the way for their sins to be forgiven.
What does the contrast of the repetition of this every year to Jesus’ single sacrifice covering all sins tell us as Christians, living after Christ's death?
It once again shows Jesus’ superiority.  He is the perfect sacrifice.

TIMELESS TRUTH
Jesus’ sacrifice was foreshadowed by the Levitical system and far surpassed it to the point of perfection.
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