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This time reading Leviticus, I’m slogging through, rather than skimming, the third book of the Bible. Every day as I read, I face two glaring facts: the holiness of God and my need for Jesus.
In chapter 10, two of Aaron’s priest-sons offered unauthorized fire before the Lord and were incinerated on the spot for not following God’s rules to the T. Cousins of the burnt brothers were summoned to carry the bodies, which “were still in their tunics,” unceremoniously outside the camp and away from the sanctuary.
Aaron’s remaining two sons immediately stepped up to take their place as priests. Holy fear must have gripped them as they watched their dead brothers get carried away. Holy reverence surely made their knees tremble as they stepped up to fulfill the role that had surprisingly become theirs in a heart-sickening instant.
Moses reminded Aaron, the Israelite community, and us of the Lord’s words:
“Among those who approach me
I will be proved holy,
in the sight of all the people
I will be honored.”
In what I imagine was somewhat organized chaos, Moses gives the two younger brothers instruction. First, he tells them not to leave the entrance to the tent of meeting because the LORD’S anointing oil was upon them. He said if they left, they would die.
They did as Moses said.
I imagine they swiftly did as Moses said! Surely there wasn’t a speck of doubt in their minds where they might have been tempted to ask, “Did God really say…?”
On display in living and dying color was this truth:
Fire was going to consume the burnt offering on the altar, or fire would consume them. They had to follow God’s protocol EXACTLY, or they would die.
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The Pharisees of the New Testament knew all about this event from Leviticus. They knew all about God’s regulations and how essential it was to obey His rules. Something of my own rule-keeping pharisaical tendency is feeling slightly sympathetic for this religious band of Jews, but I’ve got questions:
Did they realize they were incapable of keeping the law perfectly? Did they know that God was demonstrating extreme mercy in not consuming them with fire every day that they missed a step in the law-prescribed protocols? Did they understand their need for a perfect Priest who would fulfill all of the food, purification, and skin disease regulations?
Dwelling in Leviticus makes me freshly and keenly aware of our desperate need for Jesus, our holy and perfect Priest.
Perfectly obedient to God’s commands, completely righteous, Jesus was the only one that didn’t deserve to be consumed by fire. Yet He took our place and received God’s holy wrath as a willing sacrifice to pay the penalty for our sins. Because of this, and only because of this, can we go boldly before Holy God and receive grace, mercy, acceptance, and love.
(photo credit: Maxim Tajer, Unsplash)