“In holiness God is more clearly seen than in anything else, [except] the Person of Christ Jesus the Lord.” – Charles Spurgeon

“A man can no more diminish God’s glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word ‘darkness’ on the walls of his cell.” – C. S. Lewis

The Gift of the Old Testament

When we read the Old Testament, we learn what God means when he says, “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, ’You shall be holy, for I the Lord am holy.’” Leviticus 19:2

The New Testament also reminds us to be holy as God is holy, and it gives us Jesus as the perfect example of holiness. But until we read the Law and the Prophets we don’t really understand how holy God is. When we take what God says in the Law into our hearts we see how far we are from his standard of holiness

Relief or Rebellion?

It’s one thing to recognize that we are sinners incapable of keeping the Law of God and that his mercy has saved us. We can be very glad that God’s grace, not the Law, is our judge.

It’s another thing to dismiss the Law because our rebellious hearts don’t like its requirements.

We are set free from obeying the Mosaic Law, but not from seeking to be holy. When we love God, we want to please him by living holy lives. And the Law shows us what his standard of holiness is.

Obedience That Comes From Love

We know that the whole Law is summed up in the commands to love God with our whole hearts and love our neighbors as ourselves. As you read through the Law, ask yourself, “Would I have loved God enough to keep the Law if I lived in ancient Israel?” Obedience to the Law was how people demonstrated their love for God in those days.

Consecrated as Priests

Obedience to the Law began with the priests whom God appointed to serve in his tabernacle. They were priests because God said they were priests; they didn’t apply for the job.

Once they were ordained, they became accountable to every requirement and duty in the ceremonial Law. They had to wash themselves repeatedly and wear the clothes God designed for them. They were responsible to perform every ritual perfectly and maintain the tabernacle and its environs in a state of God-ordained holiness.

They mixed the incense and anointing oil according to God’s recipe, never varying from it and they only used these elements for the purposes God intended. There was no side-business selling Tabernacle Incense and Anointing Oil in the marketplace on Fridays. They couldn’t even give samples away as gifts.

Sin Offering for the Priests

The consecration and ordination of the priests was an extremely solemn affair that took seven full days and involved the slaughter of a young bull and two rams. Aaron and his sons placed their hands onto the animals’ heads and transferred their sin to them before they were killed. The animals’ blood was shed to atone for their sins.

The blood of the bull sanctified the altar and parts of its organs were burned on it, but the rest of the animal was taken outside the camp and burned to ashes there. In that way God showed that he had removed the sins of the priests far from them.

The first ram that was sacrificed became a burnt offering, meaning it was completely consumed by fire and rose to God as a “pleasing aroma, a food offering presented to God.” Exodus 29:25 Two loaves of unleavened bread, one thick and one thin, were also part of this burnt sacrifice.

Wave Offerings for the Priests

The second ram was slaughtered and its body divided. Part of it was burned up, but the breast and thigh were waved over the altar and then given to the priests as food. There was also an unleavened bread offering that was waved over the altar, but not sacrificed. Whatever God told his priests to wave over the altar and then keep became food for them. It was a privilege of their ordination.

Daily Sin Sacrifices for Israel

Everyday, in the morning and at twilight the priests sacrificed a perfect yearling lamb as a burnt offering, along with about 3½ pounds of flour and a quart each of olive oil and wine. These were perpetual sin offerings that sanctified the entrance to the tabernacle and cleared the way for God to come and speak to his people. Day and night the priests prepared sacrifices and tended to the business of the tabernacle.

If you were conscripted into the priesthood and given all of these laws to keep, would you be willing to keep them for the love of God? Or do you think you might resent his requirements and rebel against him?

No Escape from God’s Holiness

The thing about God’s holiness is that it exists like the sun exists. We can’t stop the sun from rising and we can’t stop God from being holy, nor can we avoid being judged by his holy standard. In his mercy God provided Jesus who imparts his holiness to us when we receive him. If we rebel against that plan, we are left standing under God’s wrath.

The priests understood the demands of God’s holiness. If, for instance, they had refused to transfer their sins to the sacrificial animals, they would have borne the penalty of death in themselves. In the same way, if we refuse to come to Jesus with our sins, we bear the penalty of death for our sins, too.

“But God demonstrated his love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

God Wanted Relationships with People

The basis of the Law was that the Holy God wanted a relationship with sinful people, so he made the relationship possible through the Law. He did it because he loved Israel and wanted to reach all the people of the whole world through them.

God gave numerous laws and they touched every part of human life. There was never a day that an Israelite could stop thinking about God and how to please him. There was never a day that a priest could refuse to do his duty at the tabernacle. God’s holiness was a pervasive reality in all of their lives and the obedience they offered to show their love and respect for him was relentless.

God and his Law Matter

The greatest lie that people tell themselves is that God doesn’t matter. As C. S. Lewis pointed out, that’s like a prisoner trying to put out the sun by scribbling the word “darkness” on a cell wall.

You are not required to keep all of the laws we will read in Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy, but imagine if you were. Would your love and respect for God make you willing to do it?

And what do you think about Jesus when you see all that he has delivered you from by his life, death and resurrection? Jesus fulfilled every ceremonial law of sacrifice for us with his own body. He obeyed every moral law and never broke a single civil law. Then he offered all of his righteousness to us so that we could be acceptable to God.

Jesus lived a completely holy life because he loved God the Father with all his heart, mind and strength; and he loved people as much as he loved himself. Jesus loved people so much that he exchanged his perfection for their sins in a God-ordained transaction that guaranteed their eternal life.

Respect God’s Old Testament People

We need to respect what God’s people did while they waited for Christ. They didn’t know what we know about salvation, but they persevered in what they did know. Their obedience was imperfect, but God counted their faith as righteousness and made them part of his family through the work of Christ, just as he has done for us.

Carefully reading the account of God and Israel in the Old Testament can be a small token of our respect for God and his people. Let’s honor them by taking it to heart.