Many people make a commitment to read through their Bible cover to cover. They do great until they reach the book of Leviticus. Then their eyes roll, and they feel they have entered the Biblical wasteland. Words couldn’t be drier and the relatability to what is being read seems nonexistent. What is the purpose of such a book and how is it even relevant to us today? Believe it or not, it is highly relevant and reveals how blessed we are to be living post Christ’s crucifixion than before. Let’s take a closer look and see if I can make Leviticus become relevant for you. You may just never see this book the same way again. Wouldn’t that be nice!

The Mosaic Law was comprised of 613 commandments dealing with moral and ethical issues. Most of these were tied, whether directly or indirectly, to some type of sacrifice. There were eight different types of sacrifices or offerings that were required for different things. Sometimes, more than one sacrifice had to be made simultaneously. Likely you realized from your reading of Leviticus that sacrifices were a big part of this book and were crucial to the everyday life of a Jewish citizen. It all seems so confusing. It was likely more comprehensible for a Jew of that day as they grew up with these requirements. But why? What was the purpose of such sacrifices and so much detail as to how they were to be done?

Well, fast forward to the New Testament. Because of Christ’s teachings, many started to think he was advocating for the Jews to abandon the Mosaic Law. Yet, he told them that was not the case. Actually, far from abandoning the Law, he had come to fulfill the Law: Jesus stated, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished” (Mt 5:17-18).

You may be thinking that if that was true, and he was such an advocate of the Mosaic Law, then why did Jesus argue with the Pharisees so much? The Pharisees were obsessed with keeping the Law, so shouldn’t that have been a common bond, a common thread, between them? Well, we need to look more closely as to what Jesus argued with them about. Their arguments were not about the Law but about Oral Traditions which the Pharisees elevated to be as binding as the Law itself. By doing so, they lost the true intent of the Torah, the Law. The Pharisees (and the Sadducees) had turned obeying the Mosaic Law into a list of dos and don’ts rather than about the condition of one’s heart. They taught that the doing was what made one righteous rather than an actual change of heart. Jesus was teaching the original intent of Torah, the Mosaic Law, was to expose the condition of one’s heart. Following the Law was to be a response of realizing one’s heart condition. The Pharisees were putting the cart before the horse, so to speak.

If we go back to Leviticus, we find there were eight different types of offerings required under the Mosaic Law. Why so many? What was their purpose? Did Jesus really fulfill all of them? How did he do that, and for what purpose was he to fulfill them?

To answer these questions, we need to look at each of these different types of sacrifices, their requirements, and what they represented. I think you’ll see that each addresses a matter of the heart. Each sacrifice was to be a response to a change in heart.

Let’s look at each of these sacrifices individually. I have covered them previously in another series of blog posts (Leviticus), but our emphasis in this discussion will be slightly different. I hope you join me as we discuss how Jesus Christ fulfilled each of these types of offerings and how each relates to our accepting him today.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

There are many who feel the Old Testament is quite passé and irrelevant for us today. Yet such a belief couldn’t be farther from the truth. Let’s go over some of these thoughts and see if we can decipher the legitimacy of the rationale behind them.

It is sometimes stated that the Old Testament is about something that happened so long ago that the stories and information have no relevance for us today. The apostle Paul had a different opinion about this: “Now these things [Old Testament teachings] occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did (1Co 10:6). So, since God does not change (Ml 3:6), then how God acted in the examples provided in the Old Testament can be used to help guide our actions today as well.

Some say that God in the Old Testament was a vengeful God and quite different from the God of love portrayed to us in the New Testament. Yet is that really true? Have you actually read why God made certain decisions he did in the Old Testament? Also, consider that the Old Testament covers things that happened over a 4000-year time span whereas the New Testament covers only a period of less than 100 years. Therefore, you would have far more examples to draw from in the Old Testament as to how God acts than you do in the New Testament. I have talked about this in more detail in a previous post (Is God a God of Wrath?). I think the bottom line is that there are eventual consequences to one’s sin and God, while longsuffering, will eventually declare a reckoning to be done. This was true of both Gentiles (e.g., he gave the Amorites 500 years before their reckoning came [Gn 15:13-16]) as well as the Israelites (e.g., both the northern kingdom of Israel [2Ki 17:6] and the southern kingdom of Judah [25:11] were taken captive by foreigners) because of their disobedience to God. This will also be true in our future as well, which some call the time of Jacob’s Trouble (Jr 30:7) or the time of the Tribulation (Mt 24:21; Rv 7:14).

Some say the Old Testament was about Israel, but the New Testament Church has replaced her within God’s plan, so the Old Testament is irrelevant for us today. But is that really the case? The apostle Paul seems to disagree with this assessment. God has not rejected Israel (Ro 11:1) and at a future date, all of Israel will be saved (Ro 11:26). God has a plan for both the nation of Israel and his Church, his bride. This is somewhat explained in a previous post (Gentiles – World View). God’s plan for us and the entire world is far greater than we can imagine and his love for all of mankind is also greater than we can imagine.

There is another point to make about the connection between the Old Testament and New Testament. There is a saying attributed to St. Augustine: The Old Testament is the New Testament concealed; the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed. This is quite literally true. There are many prophecies in the Old Testament about the Jew’s coming Messiah. The New Testament reveals all these prophecies were fulfilled in Jesus Christ (see Prophecies of the Messiah).

Others argue Jesus made the Old Testament null and void at his coming. Yet Jesus stated that he did not come to abolish the Mosaic Law but to fulfill it in exact detail (Mt 5:17-18). The apostle Paul agreed with this when he said, “Christ is the culmination of the law so that here may be righteousness for everyone who believes” (Ro 10:4). Because Jesus Christ fulfilled the law, we are reconciled to God and are now declared righteous because of his actions on the cross. Jesus was everything the Mosaic Law required and fulfilled all the requirements necessary. He became the culmination of the Mosaic Law requirements.

So, you can see that the Old Testament is really important for us today just as is the New Testament. Without understanding the former we can’t truly appreciate the latter. Jesus is on every page of both the Old Testament and the New Testament, so it’s likely we need to understand how the Old Testament pointed to him and how the New Testament reveals him. We’ll be exploring this fact over the next several posts. I hope you join me.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

In the last few posts, we have talked about how the Old Testament references the Earth being filled with the Holy Spirit again, post Acts chapter 2. This time, we want to see if the New Testament also supports such a claim.

The account in Acts was a localized outpouring of the Holy Spirit but then spread quickly and widely due to the evangelism of those who accepted Christ as their Savior and then received God’s Spirit. We found out in the book of Habakkuk that the next outpouring of the Holy Spirit will be far more reaching and be like a flood over the Earth. Is such a thing possible? And is there other proof of this event occurring?

First, I think we need to look at how the differences between Christ’s first and second comings were ascertained. Prior to Christ coming the first time, there was much confusion to which Scriptures pointed to his first coming and which to his second coming. After all, much of the religious leader’s resistance to Jesus being the Messiah was that he was not fulfilling all the prophesied claims of the coming Messiah, which, today, we realize will be fulfilled at his second coming.

But, are there any doctrines today that even teach of such an outpouring. Once we get the Holy Spirit, we have him, and he is with us forever. While I can’t say there are no denominations today that teach otherwise, I do know there are many prophets today who are teaching about a greater outpouring coming and do bring in scripture to support their claim. Let’s see what they say about this claim in the New Testament.

One such claim is the gospel message that Jesus taught when he first began his ministry. He taught, as did John the Baptist, to “repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Mt 3:2; 4:17). To which kingdom were they referring? I was always taught he was referring to Christ’s Millennial Kingdom, but John seems to indicate something else. John told the Jewish leaders that he baptized with water for repentance, but Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire (Mt 3:11). Christ was not going to fulfill his kingship at this time because that would limit who all would have a chance to accept him.

It seems Jesus’ ministry was a transformative ministry to prepare people for the coming filling of the Holy Spirit. This would give them the power to also become transformative in the lives of others (Jn 14:12-14). Paul explained this further stating that by what Jesus did on the cross was more significant than we could even imagine. The power of the Holy Spirit which allowed Christ to be raised from the dead also dwells in us (Ep 1:20-21) and will allow all the miracles that Jesus performed to also be performed by those who have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them (Jn 14:12-14).

So, what happened? That doesn’t seem to be happening today. Well, it did happen in the beginning. Likely Paul felt he was living in this time of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit because he observed God working many signs and wonders which served as a testament to the power of God and led many to believe in Christ.

Yet, it seems over time, the church became hierarchical and then those in elite positions did not have the Holy Spirit but coveted power and wealth over the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. While accepting Christ as one’s Savior was still taught, the power of the Holy Spirit was not. We discussed some of this previously (Kingdom Age). Christianity became societal transformative and not spiritually transformative. People became good and moral but not necessarily transformative with the power of the Holy Spirit in the lives of others.

Over time, this led the church to become more and more inept and allow the enemy, Satan, to develop a stronghold that became stronger and stronger. Our enemy has been patient and we have seen how he has ravaged our societies over the last several years. We also discussed this aspect earlier (Will God Show Up Today?).

Just as Israel missed its charge of being priests to the world (Ex 19:5-6), the church has missed its charge to be transformative in the lives of others via the Holy Spirit. Israel will fulfill its charge in the coming Millennial Kingdom of Christ (Kingdom of Priests). It seems that the church will fulfill its charge of the Great Commission when the Holy Spirit’s outpouring comes over the Earth like a flood. A great time to be alive, for sure.

The book of Titus was written later in Paul’s ministry. I think due to the infiltration of false teachers within the church, he likely concluded that they were not living in the time when the Spirit of God would become like a flood over the Earth as Habakkuk had prophesied. He told Titus to teach what Jesus had taught them until God’s glory has manifested itself to purify a people for his very own (Tt 2:11-14).

Maybe this has been a lot for you to understand and process. After all, it is not what many of us have been taught in regard to our future. Me included. Stay with me and I’ll try and summarize next time. I hope you join me.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens