You may have noticed that a couple days ago your electronic calendar autopopulated the holiday “Rosh Hashanah.” I suspect you ignored it. It is a reference to the Jewish civil new year and comes from Leviticus 23:23-25 where it is referred to as “The Feast of Trumpets.” If you’ve read it before you may have disregarded that as well. If you’re being honest, perhaps you’ve made a commitment in the past to read the Bible through in a year, only to lose your motivation shortly after beginning the book of Leviticus. It’s understandable as the book is essentially a legal manual.
However, the book that many modern Christians would rather avoid is actually one of the first taught to Hebrew children. Why would a lengthy legal text be taught to kids? Because it details how unrighteous people can meet with a holy God. By “details” I mean that it literally legislates how God’s people could be in His presence in His house. In the last chapter of Exodus the tabernacle is constructed and, upon completion, God fills it with His presence. The problem is that, despite being called the “Tent of Meeting,” they were unable to meet God in it. As sinners they could not occupy the same space as an immaculately unstained, holy God.
How could this be rectified? God answers that in the book of Leviticus. The first third of the book covers how the people could approach the tabernacle (i.e., priests and sacrifices). The second third describes how to remain pure (i.e., how to keep from being made unclean). And the last third stipulates the acceptable manner of meeting with Him (i.e., how He desires to be worshipped). As with most legal documentation, it closes with the consequences of keeping or breaking the law and, as a result, lines out the blessings of obedience and punishment for disobedience.
Imagine for a moment that, from a young age, you had stamped into your mind the need for a path to meet with a righteous God, the details of the legal code that facilitated that, and the consequences for failing to keep it. How would that affect your desire to have a mediator that took care of it all? How much clearer, then, are the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:17? “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”
Jesus is the priest that was righteous enough to be in God’s presence. Jesus was the unblemished sacrifice that paid for our sins. Jesus is the One that purifies us so that we can approach the throne of the Father. Jesus makes it possible for our worship to be acceptable to God. Sadly, we have benefitted so much from the finished work of Jesus that the details of the work He finished can seem boring!
It’s perfectly acceptable to overlook the ancient Feast of Trumpets that pops up on your calendar, but do not disregard the details of what was accomplished for every believer. Like a child that has no idea what lengths a loving parent goes to for their sake, so God has gone to immeasurable lengths to save His children. We get at least a glimpse of that in Leviticus. And because of what He did we will not suffer the penalty of disobedience, but enjoy the rewards of being counted pure when Christ returns. Counting the cost that Christ paid is time well spent.
1 John 3:1–3
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.