Leviticus contains some of the most fundamental principles of Christianity and deals with holy living or really… becoming more Christlike.

God can articulate to you what He wants for your life – you cast the deciding vote as to whether it comes to pass or not.

Sacrifices in Leviticus were voluntary just like sacrifices are for us today. We have to decide if we are going to sacrifice our time, talents, and possessions to God or not.

The only human sacrifice we should ever put on the altar is ourselves – a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God.

Regarding our own sacrifice we have to ask ourselves: 1) Did we give God our best? 2) Did we give it to him first?

Christ’s sacrifice fulfilled Old Testament law as well as satisfied the penalty for man’s original disobedience. He paid a high price for you and me to be Christians. Are we living our lives in light of that?

• 3^rd book of the Pentateuch or Torah
  • ‘Pentateuch’ – means ‘5 books’
  • ‘Torah’ – Hebrew for ‘law’ and refers to the five books of Moses
• Named by Septuagint (Greek OT)
• Also used in the Vulgate (Latin Bible)
• Hebrew name for this book
  • Vayyikra – ‘and he called’
  • First word of the book

• ‘Moses’ occurs 79 times in the New Testament
• Jesus quoted from all 5 books of Moses
• Deuteronomy (2^ndmost often), Exodus (4^thmost often)

6 But from the beginning of the creation, God ‘made them male and female.’ 7 ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, 8 and the two shall become one flesh'

4 And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?

And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man:

37 But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 38 For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.

And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.
Jesus’ statements show what he believed:

Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven.

• God’s creation (Mark 10:6 – 7)
• Adam and Eve being created by God (Matthew 19:4 – 5)
• Noah’s Ark (Luke 17:26)
• A global flood (Matthew 24:37 – 39)
• Mosaic authorship of Genesis (Luke 24:27)
• God feeding Israel with manna (John 6:32)

Matthew 5:33 - Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.’
Matthew 5:38 - “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’
Matthew 5:43 - “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor. . .’
Matthew 22:39 - And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
Leviticus 19:18 – You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

“Jehovah spake” – 36 times
“I am Jehovah” – 21 times
“I am Jehovah your God” – 21 times

“No book contains more of the very words of God. He is almost throughout the whole of it the direct speaker.”

The whole book of Leviticus and Numbers 1-10:10 take place between the 1st day of the 1st month & the 20^th day of the 2nd month of the 2nd year of the Exodus

• Exodus 40:17 – And it came to pass in the first month of the second year, on the first day of the month, that the tabernacle was raised up.
• Numbers 10:11 – Now it came to pass on the twentieth day of the second month, in the second year, that the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle of the Testimony.

• The five offerings and the law regarding them (chapters 1 – 7)
• Burnt, meal, peace, sin, trespass offerings
• The priests (chapters 8 – 10)
• Holiness in daily living (chapters 11 – 22)
• Holy holidays (chapter 23)
• Laws and prophecies concerning the promised land (chapters 24 – 26)
• Dedication and devotion, concerning vows (chapter 27)

• Leviticus 11:45 – For I am the Lord who brings you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.
• Also occurs in 11:44, 19:2, 20:7, 20:26
• ‘holy’ – qadowsh – ceremonially or morally clean: consecrated (dedicated to a [divine] purpose)

Israel was supposed to be a nation of priests

• Exodus 19:5-6-5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. 6 And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”

22 For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. 23 But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.’

So Samuel said: “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.

Sacrifice and offering You did not desire;
My ears You have opened.
Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require.

16 For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;
You do not delight in burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart—
These, O God, You will not despise.

For I desire mercy and not sacrifice,
And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man of you bring an offering unto the Lord . . .
3 If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will

Leviticus 1:3 - If his offering is a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish; he shall offer it of his own free will at the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the Lord.
`If his offering [is] a burnt-offering out of the herd -- a male, a perfect one, he doth bring near, unto the opening of the tent of meeting he doth bring it near, at his pleasure, before Jehovah; (Young’s literal translation)
Leviticus 7:16 – But if the sacrifice of his offering is a vow or a voluntary offering, . . .
Leviticus 22:19 – you shall offer of your own free . . .
Leviticus 22:21 –  And whoever offers a sacrifice of a peace offering to the Lord, to fulfill his vow, or a freewill offering...

Leviticus 17:7 – They shall no more offer their sacrifices to demons, after whom they have played the harlot. This shall be a statute forever for them throughout their generations.

• Substitution
• Stewardship/Obedience
• Fulfilled in Christ

“The fundamental idea of sacrifice in the Old Testament is that of substitution, which again seems to imply everything else ... The first fruits go for the whole products; the firstlings for the flock; the redemption money for that which cannot be offered; and the life of the sacrifice, . . . For the life of the sacrificer."

• Leviticus 1:4 – Then he shall put his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him.
• II Corinthians 5:21 - For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
• Leviticus 16:21-22 - 21 Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man. 22 The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness

• Leviticus 2:14  ‘If you offer a grain offering of your firstfruits to the Lord, you shall offer for the grain offering of your firstfruits green heads of grain roasted on the fire, grain beaten from full heads.
• Leviticus 1:3 ‘If his offering is a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish; he shall offer it of his own free will at the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the Lord.

26 For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; 27 who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.