Leaping through Leviticus

We have just finished the book of Leviticus in the Bible in 90 Day Challenge. Going in, I knew that the Leviticus/Numbers sections are tedious at best and downright boring at worst. However, reading them through at a fast rate has been a great experience! In the teaching section of our B90 Sunday School class, professor John Walton, OT professor at Wheaton, challenged us to look at Leviticus through the concept of God establishing a foothold in a fallen world.

When reading Leviticus in this way, I came away realizing just how holy the God we serve is. Mankind had to approach Him with fear and trembling because we are sinful and broken. The way to God was detailed and complicated. We are to honor and fear God, balanced of course with love. An amazing picture of this balance is found in the pages of C.S. Lewis' series The Chronicles of Narnia. Aslan, the great lion representing God in the story, is an animal that the children love. He wrestles with them, they hug and pet him, he protects them. However, he is also fearsome, powerful and violent. That is the God we serve.

The most amazing part of the story is that now we have open and unlimited access to this God through the person of Jesus Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Because of Jesus' death on the cross, we can approach our God, yes the God of Leviticus, with confidence. Let us not think that we need to fear God and love Jesus. While they are three persons they are also very much one being. We have a God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), who loves you and loves me! This God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) should also be feared and respected. The God of Leviticus is still very much the God we serve and love. Let us never loose our fear of God. Yet, let us also never lose our love for God. He is a God who is worth loving with everything we have and are!