Seeing With New Eyes
I have just started reading Leviticus.
I know I have read it before…and maybe scanned parts of it. It seems very detailed, and there were so many rules and so much death.
However, today I was prompted to ask myself: why such detail? Why so many kinds of offerings?
The answer was: God knows we are going to sin — whether intentionally or unintentionally, knowingly or unknowingly. We may not know at the time that we are guilty, but we will realize it in time.
But God…
(I love this… it is my life’s testimony)
But God provided a way, so that no matter how the people sinned, there was a provision by which they could be made right with God.
We know that has always been His goal — even if we may not have understood the fullness behind it. Not only right, but free from guilt. Not only that, but in a right relationship with Him.
He wants to be in a relationship with us 24/7.
But He has to remain true to who He is. So, in the Old Testament, He made the way for sin to be covered by the shedding of blood.
Then, the new covenant came with the sending of His Son — the perfect Lamb of God who died so that we may all be forgiven of all sin all the time.
It is our choice whether to receive or apply that to our lives.
The people in the Old Testament could have chosen to not go to the temple and offer sacrifices. However, that put a ‘wall’ between them and God.
God does not want that. He wants a relationship with us — not as a commander, which could be construed from this part of the Bible, but as a loving father instructing his children: ‘No, son, don’t go that way. If you do, this is what will happen.’
The more I read the different rules of the sacrifices, the more I appreciate that no matter what has come between us and God, He wants it to be taken out of the way.
There is always a way back to God if we are willing to take it. It doesn’t matter if they are rich or poor, priest or farmer… He makes a way for them all. Because He values every one of them, and wants a relationship with each and every one.
Right here, I am reminded of one of the characteristics of God:
God does not change.
If He loved them that much way back then, He still loves us that much today. He proved that by giving His own Son so that we could be redeemed back to Him.
Thank You, God, that You can continually show us new treasures from Your word as we read it. Thank You that it is a guidebook, but also a love letter…and a treasure trove of the promises You have for us.
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