So, I suppose you’re actually supposed to BLOG when you start a blog, huh? Funny how that works! I like to ease in to things…

So, my LIFE group just decided last week that we are going to study the book of Leviticus for the next however long. As I’ve been reading the first 7chapters this week, I have been overwhelmed by the richness of the book and all that the Lord is showing me! I am continually amazed by the continuity of Scripture — Leviticus has Jesus written all over it! So, here we go…my thoughts…I’ve got lots of them, so I guess it would be better just to share one or two at a time. Good grief, with all that’s rolling around in my heart and mind, I could see this taking a while…

Leviticus is really about holiness — how we can be in the presence of God. No time is wasted — Moses went right in to the sacrificial requirements. Have you ever stopped to consider what it would really have been like to live in the desert during this time? Have you ever really thought about how the tabernacle must have looked like, smelled like? The slaughtering of hundreds, sometimes thousands of animals, the body parts of those animals seemingly strewn about, blood everywhere, the smell of burning flesh — honestly, can you imagine it? The consequences of sin…death and blood. It had to be a pretty grotesque place, really — the tabernacle. The symbol of God’s presence with His people.

Sin-laden people in the presence of a holy God — impossible. God will not — He cannot — allow sin to be in His presence. Ever. Therein lies the need for the shedding of blood. Blood is the only cleansing agent for our sin. What struck me in my most recent reading of Leviticus is how gruesome it had to have been…wouldn’t that alone have been enough to “encourage” people to live in right relationship with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?! I mean, seriously — who wants to have to do all that? How burdensome and labor-intensive it all was! What a wretched mess! Sin was costly. Sin was serious.

How seriously do we take sin these days? Do we really understand the gravity of it? Do we truly understand what Christ endured so that we wouldnt have to? It’s more than I can comprehend.