When reading systematically through the Bible, one can often find it quite a challenge getting through books like Leviticus and numbers in particular. Lots of names, numbers. etc. A lot of detail, repetition and the descriptions of all the sacrifices and offerings that had to be made whilst the Israelites were wandering through the wilderness. Not easy reading BUT ...
Think about this, that in Christ ALL this has been taken care of.
It also shows just how God is a God of detail! The reason for the detail was that the various utensils, the altar, etc are a shadow of things to come. As it says in Hebrews 8:5 ... " They serve in a system of worship that is only a copy, a shadow of the real one in heaven. For when Moses was getting ready to build the Tabernacle, God gave him this warning: “Be sure that you make everything according to the pattern I have shown you here on the mountain.” Although we only get to the Book of Hebrews later in the New Testament, it is very worth just drawing your attention to some precious Truths. In doing so, we also see how incredibly all of Scripture fits together and explains or interprets itself. 1. The people under the old covenant were certainly justified and forgiven, but it was not by any sacrifice of blood offered under the old covenant, but by the anticipation of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. The sins were not taken away and remembered no more - "in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year". When Christ made His perfect sacrifice, those symbolic sacrifices could —and should— have ceased. Now, in Christ, there is a forgiveness of sins in which there is no more remembrance of sin. 2. Jesus offered "his own blood" on the Cross of Calvary. God only accepted such sacrifices if they were offered genuinely in faith. The reason? Because they foreshadowed the perfect sacrifice by God of "His own blood." 3. The sacrifices in the old covenant were temporal, that is, they had to be offered and were effective on a week by week, month by month, or year by year basis. They were linked to times and seasons, to new moons and sabbaths. In other words, they were tied to time. Faith, however, looks to an "eternal inheritance" that is "a heavenly one" which exists beyond earthly time and space (see Hebrews 9:15 & 11:13-16) Christ's sacrifice was made "at the end of the ages" (see Hebrews 9:26) and also referred to as the "last days" (see Hebrews 1:2). The sacrifice of Christ transcends time. Even when time itself is no more, the redemption we have through Christ’s sacrifice will remain. 4. One of the most important statements the Hebrew writer makes is: "It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins". We need to remember that these sacrifices were commanded by God. BUT ... God Himself provided the Perfect Sacrifice for us by sending His only begotten Son to make atonement for our sins. Jesus made the impossible possible! As that beautiful old hymn by Isaac Watts says: Not all the blood of beasts, On Jewish altars slain, Could give the guilty conscience peace, Or wash away its stain. But Christ, the heavenly Lamb, Takes all our sins away; A sacrifice of nobler name, And richer blood than they.
Feast on His precious Word and grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ and His Word!
Yours because of Calvary
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