"Leviticus; Not a Slowdown At All"

I Could Not Understand Leviticus Chapter One

1.    When reading the Bible from the beginning at Genesis never fails to be a real adventure. That is because so many major events explode in front of your eyes so quickly. After all, the entire universe was created in just six days at the God's command.

2.    This of course includes the creation of life, with the feature creation being man, created in God's own image. Not long after this, a catastrophic fall of man into sin, results in falling out of the fellowship of God. A brother Cain, is seen slaying his own brother, Abel, the first murder of humanity. Then we see detailed information in Genesis chapter 5 telling of precise time passages from which we are able to calculate the age of the earth.

3.    Certainly not least- comes the great flood of Noah, and the great ship he built in obedience to God by faith. Then, the birth of the Nation of Israel, and a firey end to two cities of shame. Also, among these major initial events is the deliverance of Israel out of bondage in Egypt by one of the most spectacular events of all history, the dividing of the Red Sea! The image of this event from the great Cecil B. DeMille's epic film stunned me as a child as it does today. And the wonderful Commandments of God from atop a smoking, shaking, fiery mountain called Sinai are given to Moses, their deliverer.

5.    What a Bang! What a startling way for God's inspired Scriptures to take to take off! As the cliche goes, "I couldn't put it down! Then after this intake of all these major events, I arrived at a book called "Leviticus."

Leviticus ... a slowdown?
6.    As I read the first chapter of this book, it seemed like such a slowdown of events. Suddenly, I found myself in a detailed description of the slaughter of innocent animals. This was very shocking to me because I love animals. The passage very hard to bare as the scripture relentlessly described the fate of these sacrificed creatures;

Leviticus 1:1-17 1 And the LORD called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying, 2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man of you bring an offering unto the LORD, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd, and of the flock. 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 at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD. 4 And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. 5 And he shall kill the bullock before the LORD: and the priests, Aaron's sons, shall bring the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 6 And he shall flay the burnt offering, and cut it into his pieces. 7 And the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire upon the altar, and lay the wood in order upon the fire: 8 And the priests, Aaron's sons, shall lay the parts, the head, and the fat, in order upon the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar: 9 But his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water: and the priest shall burn all on the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD. 10 And if his offering be of the flocks, namely, of the sheep, or of the goats, for a burnt sacrifice; he shall bring it a male without blemish. 11 And he shall kill it on the side of the altar northward before the LORD: and the priests, Aaron's sons, shall sprinkle his blood round about upon the altar. 12 And he shall cut it into his pieces, with his head and his fat: and the priest shall lay them in order on the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar: 13 But he shall wash the inwards and the legs with water: and the priest shall bring it all, and burn it upon the altar: it is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD. 14 And if the burnt sacrifice for his offering to the LORD be of fowls, then he shall bring his offering of turtledoves, or of young pigeons. 15 And the priest shall bring it unto the altar, and wring off his head, and burn it on the altar; and the blood thereof shall be wrung out at the side of the altar: 16 And he shall pluck away his crop with his feathers, and cast it beside the altar on the east part, by the place of the ashes: 17 And he shall cleave it with the wings thereof, but shall not divide it asunder: and the priest shall burn it upon the altar, upon the wood that is upon the fire: it is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD. (KJV)

7.   I was horrified as I read of their suffering. A good description of myself might be this...if I wanted a piece of fish, I would go to Arthur Treacher's Fish and Chips- not going fishing as it is too gruesome for me. So, naturally as I read of the slaughter of these innocent animals, all I could do was shake my head at the horror.

Then Wonderfully...
8.    Then wonderfully, one day I saw the great truth, meaning, and necessity of the detailed events in that scripture. I found it to be a picture of the great sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world.

9.    All of the sacrifices of these animals, all of their suffering was only a portrait of what the Messiah would endure for man. Yeshua (Jesus), would be the life offered on the altar by God to atone for the sins of man... ...and that at so *great* a price.

10.    Another film that greatly blessed me and one which I think was annointed in its making by the holy Spirit of God was George Stevens' "The Greatest Story Ever Told." This film was created with a reverence for Almighty God. At church, I wanted to share this blessing with others. I shared the film with Brother Willie Senn. When I asked him what he thought of the film he replied, "It was pretty good, but" that no Hollywood film has ever accurately portrayed the crucifixion of Yeshua.

11.    I had to agree. A little trickle of blood here, and a crown of thorns with another little trickle there is *NOT* what happened. No, the scripturea tell us that; Isaiah 52:14 As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:

"Yeshua of Nazareth was Literally Slaughtered"

12.    Yeshua, was literally slaughtered in sacrifice for our sins. There was not a trickle of blood from His brow, but blood poured from His wounded head as He wore the crown of thorns, from His face as His beard was ripped out, His back, after receiving thirty-nine lashes with a whip.

13.    Head Wounds; Whatever side you were on, do you remember the anti-war protests of the 1960's and early 70's? When a person was struck in the head by a police baton, and then he or she was photographed under arrest, blood would be all over that person's face, and hair, as any head wound yields much blood. This is what we would have seen, as Messiah carried the cross from the Hall of Judgement to Golgotha... a man severely wounded and bleeding profusely from different areas of His body.

14.    Brutality; Have you ever heard of someone dying in police custody- that is being arrested and beaten in prison? There is an account of this happening to Christ while under arrest in Jerusalem. The account is found in Luke 22; Luke 22:64 And when they had blindfolded him, they struck him on the face, and asked him, saying, Prophesy, who is it that smote thee? (KJV)

15.    He was surrounded and beaten. These were big guards/soldiers doing the hitting. I am certain that Yeshua bled from His mouth and nose from this beating, in addition to the blood flowing from His multiple head wounds from the crown of thorns. These were muscular men who jammed the crown, into the head of Jesus. The song "Oh Sacred Head Now Wounded" was written in light of this passage.

16.    During the recent caneing event overseas, an analysis was done of this form of punishment saying that each lash of the cane broke the skin and would leave a permanent scar on the buttocks of the person on the receiving end. This was exactly the case from the * TWENTY-NINE * whip lashes received by our LORD. Each lash tore open the skin of Yeshua ha Mashiach and damaged the flesh underneath. This whipping would have resulted in much blood being shed.

17.    This, then, was the Christ who carried a huge wooden cross through the streets of Jerusalem to His own execution. Blood, and a lot of it, would be what you would have seen if you had looked on Him. Blood everywhere... from His head and thus completely covering His face...from His face where He was beaten and from where His beard was... His clothes would therefore have been red with this blood. This is why the women wept as they looked on Him carrying His cross. So Now....

18.    Now, when I read Leviticus one, I know that there is a purpose for every single word that is in the Bible. It is not a boring or tedious passage. As we have a detailed account of the slaughtering of the bullocks for the sacrifice, we see the extreme price that Christ paid for the remission of sins. The same cruelty suffered in this early portrait of atonement was suffered by Messiah. The blood that was in His body He gave it for an atonement for His sheep. Leviticus is not a slowdown, at all, but an early revelation of the "great" salvation to come.

Glory and honour be unto the name of Yeshua, the Lord. Praise God for His glorious resurrection!