Bloody Leviticus Foretells Salvation

Study Leviticus Like a Pro

Leviticus is full of gruesome, bloody rituals performed by priests on behalf of God’s people. Unless you’re a butcher (and maybe even then), the descriptions of the gory mess created by sin and guilt make for uncomfortable reading. Leviticus confronts us with the cost of our sin against God and others. It can be challenging to see past the brutality to redemption. We can find a new perspective on Leviticus by tracing the ideas of guilt and sin throughout the Bible. In the process, we will learn three steps that will allow us to transition Old Testament concepts into modern faith applications—without the need to burn a bull on an altar.

Step 1: Get a Sense of the Entire Book and Its Purpose

To understand Leviticus, or any Old Testament book, we need to first get a sense of the book as a whole. There is no substitute for reading a biblical book in its entirety. It’s hard work—especially with a book like Leviticus. Yet it helps us understand God’s Word and his work on behalf of humanity.

Even a cursory reading reveals that Leviticus is all about how God’s people can be made right before him. People are sinful; we are guilty for our wrongful actions against God and others. Thus, we cannot have a complete relationship with Him—that gap must be bridged.

Reading the entry on “Leviticus” in a Bible dictionary can help us understand details that seem strange or confusing. The entry in Lexham Bible Dictionary tells us that Leviticus details five main kinds of sacrifices (or offerings): burnt, grain, peace, sin and guilt (see Lev 1–7). In addition, there are special public rituals associated with the Day of Atonement (see Lev 16).

The offerings and sacrifices described in Leviticus provide a temporary and highly symbolic, but still tangible, way for people to stand in relationship with God. Since God is perfect and people are not, God had to create a way for people to be allowed back into his presence without violating the purity of His presence.

Step 2: Look to the Prophets

The gory mess of Leviticus is reiterated by the prophets to explain how God will eventually solve the problem of sin once and for all. By using a study Bible, like Faithlife Study Bible, you can navigate to the first prophetic book in the Bible—Isaiah—and search through the notes for “Lev” (the abbreviation for Leviticus). You’ll quickly see how often the prophets allude to Leviticus or quote it. (For this step, you need Bible software or a Bible application capable of searching study Bible notes.)

Searching for “Lev” eventually brings us to Isaiah 53:10. Through the work of the Suffering Servant described in this passage, people no longer have to depend on offerings; instead, the Suffering Servant is the guilt offering (compare Lev 5:14–19). Questions about precisely what sacrifices do for us or how long their atonement lasts are no longer relevant. Instead, we—all of God’s people, all of humanity—witness how God’s servant intercedes on our behalf. When he takes our place before God, we profoundly realize our nature as sinners. Here, in Isaiah 53:10–12, we see guilt and sin dealt with directly:

‘Yet Yahweh was pleased to crush [the servant]; he afflicted [the servant] (with sickness). If [Zion/Jerusalem] places [the servant’s] life a guilt offering, he will see offspring, he will prolong days. And the will of Yahweh is in [the servant’s] hand, it will succeed. Out of trouble of his life he will see light; [the servant] will be satisfied by his knowledge.’ [Yahweh says,] ‘My righteous servant will bring justice to many and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I [Yahweh] will divide to [the servant a portion] among the many, and with [the] strong ones [the servant] shall divide bounty, because he exposed his life to death and was counted with transgressors, and he carried the sin of the many and will intercede for transgressors’ (Isa 53:10–12).

In this passage, the Servant becomes the bridge between sinners and God. He unselfishly and undeservedly bears our iniquities. Like the symbolic goat from Leviticus 16:22, the Servant bears sin itself so we can once again have relationship with God.

But there’s more going on here than suffering and death; the Servant is resurrected. After he is brutally murdered for humanity’s sake, the Servant sees offspring, prolongs days, sees light, and is satisfied by his experience—the Servant does things that can only happen in life after he has already died. Through his resurrection, the Servant can offer us new life (compare John 3:16–17).

Step 3: Examine Related New Testament Passages

Using the same method as step two, we will search for our parallel passage of Isaiah 53:10 and see how the concepts we’ve already been exploring are used in the New Testament. To run this search through the study Bible notes, we will search for “Isa” (the abbreviation for Isaiah). John’s entire Gospel echoes passages from Leviticus and from Isaiah 52:13–53:12 (see John 19; 20:9; especially John 19:28, 33–34). The prophecies about the Suffering Servant are fulfilled by Jesus’ death and resurrection—Christ himself fulfills them.

Running a search for “Isa” in our study notes, we also find that it’s the Suffering Servant who is resurrected that makes us whole and complete before God; the Apostle Paul reflects on this throughout his letters, boldly proclaiming, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil 1:18–30). Paul can make this claim because he places his hope in the resurrection Christ offers; Paul knows that just as Jesus was resurrected (fulfilling the prophecies), so he too will be resurrected with Christ. Thus, whatever may happen, Paul is not ashamed of the good news of Jesus or of the implications that accompany believing in Jesus and living for him (Rom 1:16–17; 6:5; see especially Rom 1:4; 3:24). When your entire worldview centers on the resurrection, nothing in this life is scary. You already know the end of all things.

As people of God, we should live the redemption message of Leviticus. We should acknowledge that, instead of living at the mercy of those bloody Old Testament offerings, we stand before Jesus himself as undeserving people made holy, righteous and right before God. Our atonement is complete through Christ, who gives us the hope of resurrection.

John Barry

Originally published in Bible Study Magazine Sept–Oct ‘13

Biblical references from ESV

Isa Isaiah

ESV English Standard Version

 Barry, John, “Bloody Leviticus Foretells Salvation”, Study Like a Pro: Explore Difficult Passages from Every Book of the Bible (ed. J. D. Barry – R. Van Noord) (Bellingham, WA 2014).