I've just finished Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy and I must say it was a tough journey. The census in Numbers was of course some dry reading and many of the laws were tough to get through, but as I look back on these three books I see one major theme, holiness. God commands holiness from His people. He states time and time again that His people are a holy people and they are to be holy as He is holy (Leviticus 20:26, Leviticus 11:44, Deuteronomy 14:2, etc.) So if this concept of holiness is so important to God and what it means to be His people, it might be a good idea for us to take a look at it. What does holy mean? A search on Dictionary.com returns several definitions but the one I want us to focus on is this, holy is having a spiritually pure quality. That's what God wants, spiritual purity, spiritual cleanliness. This is evident throughout these books, and all of scripture I might add, but especially in these three books. God requires that His people be set apart and spiritually clean. Now in the Old Testament this cleanliness was achieved symbolically through the various sacrifices that were required. But, let's look at how God exemplified this holiness in a way that demonstrated the cleanliness He desired. If you were physically unclean (i.e. sickness, had contact with dead bodies, deformities, etc.) you could not come to the temple and were often times even required to stay on the outskirts of the Israelite camp. Now, was God being cruel and unfair in these regards? No. Many of these prescriptions had health and sanitary components that were actually quite advanced for their time. What God was doing was giving the people a visual reference to exemplify the extent of holiness He required. The lamb you sacrificed had to be without blemish. The goat you sacrificed had to be perfect. The bull had to be perfect. Everything had to be perfect! With such a high standard of holiness, how could any one person ever hope to fully please God? This is the exemplification of Romans 3:19-20 which says
19 Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God;
20 because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law
comes the knowledge of sin.
The law was not intended to save us but rather to show us how dreadfully short we fall in regards to the holiness that God requires. So what can we do? If God sets the bar higher than anyone is capable of reaching, what hope is there? Enter Jesus! The very next verses in Romans say
21 But now apart from the Law
the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
22 even
the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction;
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;
25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith.
This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed;
26 for the demonstration,
I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Jesus reached the bar we could never obtain and made it possible for us to enter into God's presence with spiritual purity. As I'm reading through the Bible, it is AMAZING how scripture is all linked together and how everything points to Jesus. The strict holiness of the Old Testament serves to show us just how incapable and sinful we are and shows us the need for a Savior. Then in the New Testament God sends us that Savior! Amazing stuff!
