Bible Figures

The Book of Leviticus

Friday: Holy to the LORD: Leviticus 1:1-24:23

July 15, 2022

n the matter of these purification laws, Jesus explains what these ritual requirements were meant to do. The principle is that it’s not what comes into you or touches you that makes you unclean, but what comes out. The problem is not external, but, rather, the problem is the uncleanness of your heart. Jesus said: “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean.’ For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man ‘unclean’” (Matt. 15:17-20a).

Monday: Ordination and Consecration: Leviticus 8:1-10:20

July 18, 2022

In last week’s devotional we saw that if you want to understand Leviticus, you have to understand holiness, as seen in the theme, “Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy” (19:2), which you find again and again throughout the book. But now we should ask what holiness is, since many of us have a mistaken idea of it. Somehow we think of holiness in exclusively ethical terms. Because we think of ethics as a scale from 0 (if you’re very bad) to 100 (if you’re very good), we think of holiness as kind of moving up the scale.

Tuesday: Our Prophet, Priest, and King: Leviticus 8:1-10:20

July 19, 2022

Jesus Christ is the perfect prophet, the perfect priest, and the perfect king. How does that apply to us? It applies to us in this sense: we’re told in the New Testament that although we do not serve as Jesus Christ did, and continues to do, nevertheless, because we belong to Christ we have roles that are somewhat analogous to His.

Wednesday: God’s Holiness Satisfied: Leviticus 8:1-10:20

July 20, 2022

The sacrifices that are offered in Leviticus 9 as part of worship are first of all for Aaron and his sons—that is, for the priests—and second, for the people. Now in the previous chapter the sacrifices were made at the ordination of the priests, which were a bull, a ram, and then another ram. But for the people here in Leviticus 9, the sacrifices were a male goat (the sin offering), a calf and a lamb (the burnt offerings), and an ox and a ram (the peace/fellowship offerings). For both the priests and the people, the sequence of the offerings was the same: first the sin offering, then second, the burnt offering, followed by the fellowship offering. This tells us how we must approach God.

Thursday: The Priests and Their Ministry: Leviticus 8:1-10:20

July 21, 2022

The end of chapter 9 is probably the highest peak to be found in the entire book of Leviticus. The priests have been consecrated and ordained. They have offered the sacrifices during the first formal worship service of the people. God has come down upon the tabernacle to bless it in the visible presence of the shekinah glory. Yet, when you come to chapter 10 there is an enormous change. Suddenly we are in a different world, because instead of blessing, what you find is death.

Friday: Every Christian a Priest: Leviticus 8:1-10:20

July 22, 2022

At the beginning of this study I said that all Christians today are priests. Therefore what we learn from these chapters is to be applied for us. Peter makes a great deal of that, using Old Testament language to talk about Christians. He writes, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Pet. 2:9).

The Day of Atonement

Monday: A Very Important Chapter: Leviticus 16:1-34

July 25, 2022

It’s impossible to overestimate the importance of Leviticus 16 in the religion of the Old Testament. Its teaching about the Day of Atonement is absolutely central to the book of Leviticus. Leviticus contains the instructions for the priests and the sacrifices. And because the sacrifices are the very heart of how one becomes right before God, prefiguring the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, this chapter is more important than anything we have studied thus far.

The Day of Atonement

Tuesday: The Day of Atonement: Leviticus 16:1-34

July 26, 2022

What sets the Day of Atonement apart from the other holy days? The important difference to note here is that it was on this day that sacrifices were made for the entire nation. All the other sacrifices we’ve looked at (and we’ve looked at quite a few of them), were individual sacrifices: one worshiper making a sacrifice for his sin. Sometimes it was a burnt offering, sometimes a sin offering, sometimes a peace offering, but it was always for an individual’s sins or the sins of his family. The Day of Atonement is the only time in the year when sacrifices were offered for the sins of the entire nation.

The Day of Atonement

Wednesday: Two Goats, Two Meanings: Leviticus 16:1-34

July 27, 2022

The climax comes when John the Baptist pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ and said, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Jesus Christ is the culmination of the revelation, the one who embodies everything that all the sacrifices symbolized and the one to whom all the sacrifices pointed.

The Day of Atonement

Thursday: Mercy on the Sinner: Leviticus 16:1-34

July 28, 2022

In one of Jesus’ parables, He contrasted a Pharisee with a tax collector, both of whom went to the temple to pray. Pharisees were highly regarded by the people. And when in his prayer he thanked the Lord he is not like other men, everyone hearing Jesus’ story would have agreed that the Pharisee was not like the others. The tax collector, however, was viewed by the people as a sinner. Yet, unlike the Pharisee, the tax collector prayed, “Lord have mercy on me, a sinner.” Jesus said it was the tax collector who went home justified, and not the Pharisee.

The Day of Atonement

Friday: Christ’s Perfect Sacrifice: Leviticus 16:1-34

July 29, 2022

How do we apply this? As you compare Scripture with Scripture, and especially as you look to the New Testament for the light it throws on the Old Testament, you find not only that the New Testament gives us the right understanding of the Old Testament, but you also find that it applies it for you. And that is nowhere more apparent than in what took place here on the Day of Atonement, which is interpreted and applied in the book of Hebrews. This letter deals with all these Jewish types, and the whole point of Hebrews is that they are fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

Monday: An Amazing Year: Leviticus 25:1-55

August 1, 2022

This is one of the most amazing pieces of legislation that you find in the Old Testament, at least to those people who have been taught that an unlimited and unhindered accumulation of wealth is the ultimate good. In the Year of Jubilee, all land holdings in Israel reverted to the original owners. This was one of the earliest—and perhaps the first—processes and laws for land reform in the history of the world, and certainly one of the most unique.

Tuesday: When the People Return to Their Land: Leviticus 25:1-55

August 2, 2022

In this year the land was to revert to the original family owners. But if you look at the text carefully, that’s not the way the chapter itself talks about it. The text actually speaks not of the land returning to the people but of the people returning to the land. Now that must be important because it’s said five times over (see vv. 10, 13, 27, 28, and 41). The point seems to be that God is more concerned with the people than the land. We usually think the other way around. We are glad to manipulate people or get rid of people as long as we can accumulate our holdings. Now today, of course, it’s not generally land so much as it is bank accounts and stocks and so forth. But we manipulate people in order to have things. God says what’s important is the people, not the things.

Wednesday: The Kinsman-Redeemer: Leviticus 25:1-55

August 3, 2022

There’s another important idea in this chapter, and it’s that of the kinsman-redeemer (see vv. 25-28). If a family was poor and was forced to sell their land, it wasn’t always necessary for them to wait till the Year of Jubilee came around to get it back. That could be a lifetime away. If that year came in your youth, you may be an old man before you got your land back. However, it was possible for the land to be bought back and restored to the original owner by a near relative who was called a kinsman-redeemer. Or, if the original owner prospered, he had the right to buy it back again. Now the amount the original owner had to pay was the difference between what the buyer had paid for it originally and the amount of crops that he had gotten out of it in the meantime. So if he had paid for ten years of crops and only three harvests had gone by, he had to be paid for the seven years of crops.

Thursday: Duties to Help the Poor: Leviticus 25:1-55

August 4, 2022

The long and concluding section of this chapter is verses 35 to 55, which has to do with duties to the poor. You might say, at first glance, “Why in the world are these duties to the poor here at all? Why does this belong in a chapter having to do with the Jubilee?” Well it shows that the central concern of the chapter is to protect or help the poor. There are a number of cases here.

The Book of Numbers

Monday: Numbers: An Overview

August 8, 2022

Let’s face it: Numbers isn’t the kind of book you just naturally pick up to while away a few hours on a weekend. It’s part of the Old Testament law, for one thing. That’s bad enough. None of us likes law very much. But in addition, it’s also called Numbers. Some who score very high on their achievement tests or who major in mathematics are interested in numbers. But the rest of us think they are generally pretty irrelevant. And this title isn’t an aberration either—it really is about numbers, at least the first section of the book is. It’s about the numbering of the tribes of the people of Israel, and the arrangement of their camp, and the purification of the people for their march. That’s just not terribly appealing. For the title of the sermon, someone had suggested that I call it “Numbers: An Audit,” since people do not find audits by the Internal Revenue Service appealing, either.

The Book of Numbers

Tuesday: God with Us: Numbers 1-10

August 9, 2022

Notice that all of the fighting men were counted. Every one of them was important. That’s true today in the church as well. The Bible says in several places that God has a scroll in which our names are written (for example, Ps. 139:16; Rev. 20:12). Every one of us is important. Although we don’t have a census on earth in the church that corresponds with the very literal census of Israel, there is a heavenly census that is far more important.

The Book of Numbers

Wednesday: Separated unto God: Numbers 1-10

August 10, 2022

Another thing to remember is that the number in the third chapter is compared to the total of the firstborn males in Israel. When the people were brought out of Egypt, God had killed the firstborn of all the Egyptians when the angel of death passed through the land. The firstborn of all the Israelites were spared who had put the blood upon the doorposts of their houses. God said that those firstborn children nevertheless belonged to Him. They were saved by the blood. If it wasn’t for the blood they would have died as well. They were sinners just like everybody else, and salvation was by the blood that pointed forward to Jesus Christ.

The Book of Numbers

Thursday: Resting in God’s Gracious Direction: Numbers 1-10

August 11, 2022

The Aaronic blessing is a very beautiful benediction, perhaps more so in Hebrew than it appears to be in English—although it’s beautiful in English as well. In Hebrew there are three lines, but broken down to six in our Bibles. Each one begins with the name of Yahweh, the LORD. And each line has two elements of benediction and they are arranged in a typical parallel fashion. The lines become progressively longer. In Hebrew the first line has three words, the second line has five words, and the third line has seven words. It’s as if the blessing of God is unfolding and pouring out upon the people.

The Book of Numbers

Friday: Service That Lasts Forever: Numbers 1-10

August 12, 2022

When we get to the tenth chapter, the Israelites are ready to go. They had made trumpets that were to be sounded when they began their march. This section probably also belongs earlier chronologically. The trumpets may have been made when all of the other articles were made, as described especially in Exodus. But the description of the trumpets is held for here because the trumpets signaled the march.

Complaints and Opposition

Monday: The People’s Complaints: Numbers 12:3

August 15, 2022

In the first ten chapters of Numbers, everything seems to be going well. The people are commended for obeying God, and the idea that they did what God commanded them occurs again and again. Yet when we come to the eleventh chapter, the tone is different and the people are complaining. This is a beginning of a series of complaints that’s going to go throughout the whole book.

Complaints and Opposition

Tuesday: Being Thankful: Numbers 12:3

August 16, 2022

What’s the difference between when they complained the first time about their diet and now? Well, the difference is that a year in their lives has transpired, and during that year God has revealed a great deal about Himself. When they came out of Egypt they didn’t know much about God at all. They were a nation of slaves. But He’d begun to teach them about Himself at Sinai. He taught them that He is a holy God, and that He is a powerful God. They’d seen the miracles. The Israelites knew how He was preserving them as they went through the desert by the manna they ate and the water they drank. A great cloud overshadowed the camp in order to protect them from the hot desert sun in the daytime, and then it turned into a pillar of fire at night to provide both warmth and light. They had perfectly adequate evidence of the power and the grace of God and shouldn’t have been complaining now.

Complaints and Opposition

Wednesday: Moses’ Complaint: Numbers 12:3

August 17, 2022

Starting in verses 10 and following of Numbers 11, we come to something that is not a very attractive moment in Moses’ life. Moses gives vent to his frustration in a long, angry prayer. It’s surprising to find it here, because in the very next chapter he is going to be described as the meekest man who ever lived. Meek? Yes, he really was. But here in this prayer he really expresses his frustration as he is complaining bitterly to God:

Complaints and Opposition

Thursday: Miriam’s Opposition: Numbers 12:3

August 18, 2022

In chapter 12, the story becomes one of opposition, hard hearts, and divisions within the camp. The opposition that Moses is now facing comes from within his own family circle, from his brother Aaron and his sister, Miriam, who seems to be the ringleader. The ground for this attack was the fact that Moses had taken a Cushite wife. Moses’ first wife, Zipporah, was from Midian, and so it seems that she had died and that Moses had taken a second wife who was Ethiopian. If this is correct, then Miriam was saying, “I don’t like this black woman in my family.” So it’s not only sibling rivalry, it’s the worst kind of racial prejudice.

Complaints and Opposition

Friday: Learning from Moses: Numbers 12:3

August 19, 2022

The story wraps up with two examples of intercession. First, Aaron looks at Miriam and he is aghast at what he sees. He turns to Moses and pleads with him to do something. While he’s interceding with Moses, he confesses his own sin and links himself with Miriam, saying, “Please, my lord, do not hold against us the sin we have so foolishly committed” (v. 11). Maybe he is afraid something is going to happen to him. But he intercedes on behalf of his sister with Moses. Second, Moses intercedes with God, and God answers that He will be gracious and heal her.

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