I'm gonna pray and then we'll dig into Leviticus for a little while and then
we'll gather in the small groups as normal and we'll pray. I've got some big
things to pray about tonight that are going on in the life of the world so
we'll do that in just a little while. Let's pray. Lord we thank you so much for
gathering us and we ask now that in your holy presence we would know the
presence of the Holy Spirit particularly to illumine this word to us that we
would receive such a strange and different context the the legal code of
cleanliness laws in your Levitical order Lord would you help us to understand
and so we ask for that it's so different than our modern context so Lord be near
unto us now as we receive this we recognize this to be your holy word
and so we want to hear it oh God and we pray this in Jesus name amen. Alright so
we're looking at Leviticus we've been is our fourth time together to do that so
there's a handout Leviticus 11 to 15 is what we're gonna think about together
for a little while and if you've not been around for this that's okay so so far
the big thing we've said is that when you read Leviticus the question is the
reality is to see is that we were all made for God's presence and there's a
hunger for that in all every single one of us tonight even if we don't feel it
at the moment so you might come tonight not feeling hunger and thirst for the
living presence of God in your life but that is exactly the thing you were made
for and that's what Leviticus is actually all about and so the question of
Leviticus is how can people who were made for the living presence of God enter
into that presence when they have unclean lips as Isaiah puts it sinners
people of dust like we are how can we enter onto the holy mountain of God's
presence that's the question of Leviticus and that's what we've been
talking about so far and what we have in Leviticus is basically just God's
gracious yes sinners can enter and so sometimes we come to a book like Leviticus
and think this is the law and we're gonna get to the grace later but actually
Leviticus is unbelievably gracious from top to bottom can a sinner enter into
God's presence Leviticus says yes by way of sacrifice we saw already by way of
priesthood so you need both so far to enter into God's holy presence and
that's what this book of it is about we said the past couple of times that the
tabernacle in the book of Leviticus is a representation of the Garden of Eden
that's a big claim that we're making and even more than that the tabernacle that
God requires Moses and the priest to build is a representation of the cosmos
itself and so in the Garden of Eden the first temple of God God condescended in
order to be with us to dwell in our presence and we in his presence and
now in Leviticus we have this what the theologians will call a recapitulation
of that event mimicked in the way the temple is structured and designed the
tabernacle and so just like Adam and Eve exited out of the east gate of the
Garden of Eden and Cain was sent further east east of Eden so the tabernacle
faces east and you approach the tabernacle the temple the altar by the
east gate it's a reentry into the Garden of Eden is the picture we're being
given and the further you get into the temple the tabernacle the holy of
holies the closer you get to the center of the garden the tree of life so the
temple furniture looks like trees flowers the temple is decorated in that
way the tabernacle is and so this is all about getting in return going in
return from our exile back to the Garden of Eden that's the big picture here
now last time we ended at Leviticus 10 and in Leviticus 10 at the end of
Leviticus 9 Moses is able for the first time to enter the tabernacle he had not
been able to in Leviticus 1 but by way of sacrifice and priestly ordination he's
able to enter the high priest in Moses are and then the very next story is the
story of Nadab and Abihu who we said very probably it doesn't tell us for sure
entered into into the holy of holies where they were not allowed they brought
what's called strange fire incense from the altar outside and they were struck
dead and so as soon as the temple the tabernacle gets consecrated and we are
as human beings able to enter it it's immediately in the next story defiled and
so we said that just like Genesis 1 and 2 comes along and there's the Garden
Temple then Genesis 3 is the very next story the fall story Leviticus 1 to 9 is
like Genesis 1 and 2 new creation new cosmos God's presence condescending in
this one place and yet in Leviticus 10 is the fall story so it's already defiled
it's already corrupted it lasted about a day and it's broken again that's the
that's the image of Leviticus 10 and so you pick up in Leviticus 11 with this
whole series Leviticus 11 to 15 of what's clean and unclean this whole code
of animals people that are clean and unclean and it begins with Nadab and
Abihu why because when Nadab and Abihu died in the holy of holies their dead
corpses today's on the cleanliness and unclean codes is a little a little heavy
so their dead corpses were laying inside the tabernacle and a dead body is
defiling to the to the presence of God the tabernacle so immediately you have
the first unclean event take place Nadab and Abihu's bodies so the priests the
high priestess to go in and get those bodies out and then from Leviticus 11
to 16 next time we'll see this you have this ritual called the day of atonement
how in the world are you going to get a temple that's been filled with dead
corpses clean again and that's what the day of atonement is all about Leviticus
16 but before we get to that we've got okay people of Israel by the way here are
all the other ways you can defile the temple that's what Leviticus 11 to 15 is
doing all right so what I want to do briefly is three quick things one what
are these cleanliness laws saying just try to get a basic sense of it quickly so
I've printed a majority I've just printed some quotes for you from the text to
kind of get some clarity on that and then let's just I'm gonna give you three
to five kind of summary statements what do the cleanliness laws mean just the
most basic way you can take it with you and hopefully use it in your own Bible
reading and then lastly why does it matter to us in the light of Christ very
briefly so let's let's think about that all right what are these cleanliness
cleanliness laws saying the first in chapter 11 is about food so you'll see
that on your handout and the first thing we're told is the Lord speaks to Moses
and Aaron and he says to them speak to the people of Israel and say this there
these are the living things that you may eat among the animals and what is it
whatever parts the hoof and choose the cudd you may eat so everything else
largely is unclean all right so what animals let me see if we can get some
audience participation what what animals part the hoof and chew the cudd cows
yeah cows that's a big one sheep yep yep I had to look this up all the
different options and the ancient areas that this could fit gazelles dear no not
pigs no they don't they don't fit because they don't chew the cudd row book wild
goats I don't even know what this is the ibex anybody ibex okay form of good
excellent thank you for that antelopes mountain sheep these are the types of
things we're talking about then in verse 9 it's look how it's divided land water
air this follows Genesis 1 in reverse okay water these you may eat what can you
eat from the waters well the only thing you can eat from the waters is that which
has both fins and scales and everything else is unclean okay and then in the air
it doesn't list the birds of the air that you can eat it lists all the ones you
can't eat and when you read it it's things like the eagle the vulture
different types of vultures falcons so make a note just let me ask you for I'll
mention something about this in just a minute but what kind of animals are
these just think about that for a second and capture especially the birds I
think and then at the very end of the food laws at the end of the food laws
God says now instead of eating unclean food be holy as I am holy and then he
says because I brought you out of the land of Egypt all right so he gives you
a reason for the food laws at the end be holy as I'm holy because I brought you
out of Egypt we'll come back to that when in the kind of conclusion section so
just think about it for now then it comes to chapter 12 and chapter 15 chapter
12 is all about women chapter 15 is all about men now to prevent making everybody
here incredibly uncomfortable for a little while I won't say any detail at
all about this though in the detail there is a whole lot of symbol and meaning
that's very important but 12 to if a woman conceives and bears a male child
then she shall be unclean seven days and at the time of her menstruation she
shall be unclean if she has a male child she shall be unclean sorry female
child she shall be unclean for 14 days unless that's an interesting why okay
we'll come back to that why is it that a woman would be unclean giving birth to
a baby boy for seven but a girl for 14 that's an interesting question we'll
come back I'll provide an answer for that in a second that's it Jean you got it
15 one when any man has a discharge from his body his discharge is unclean you
can read the rest of chapter 15 to understand all the conditions of that
and then we see in verse chapter 15 verse 29 what do you do in these
situations you take two turtle doves or two pigeons this is what Mary the
mother of Christ does in the gospel so we're told in the gospel that she
couldn't afford the highest level of this particular sacrifice so she had to
take two pigeons and she brought and she brings them to the priest to the
entrance of the tent of meeting and the priest shall use one for a sin offering
and the other for a burnt the word burnt there remember if you were with us
week one is a sentient offering so the sentient offering is the offering that
says you are reconciled to the presence of the Lord that's what it says and so in
the act of giving birth you have to go through the process of atonement and
offering to reenter the camp or the presence of God amongst the people of
God all right so that that's works for not only women but also men and in all
of these situations what's going on it's very clear if you look at chapter 12 and
15 together that it's the issue of losing bodily fluids in a way that's not
the everyday norms okay so that could be that you have a cut that won't stop
bleeding or other types of losing loss of body bodily fluids and later on in
the book of Leviticus we we are told in the blood there is life all right so
hold on to that we'll come back to that in just a second of what what that means
and then lastly chapter 13 and 14 is all about the uncleanness and the
defilement around visible diseases so leprosy is the word that gets used but
when you read it really carefully one of the things you realize is it's not just
about leprosy in the sense that we mean it it literally means any visible skin
condition that is infectious so it's very clear when you read it that it's
talking about infections so you could have Hanson's disease leprosy where you
have what looks like infections all over your body boils things like that but
it's talking about not just bumps and bruises but actually any spot that's
become infected is clearly the white and the red is what is quite often
referenced you can see that in chapter 13 the text there and then even further
in that chapter it talks about how if there is white red black green these
different types of colors are mentioned not all of those can't remember exactly
which ones in a garment so it references leprosy in a garment leprosy on your
walls what is that mold yeah it's saying mold so if you go to your house and it
has leprosy infection of the wall infection of the garment it says first
you have to remove the stones where the infection is found meaning the spots in
your wall and then if it doesn't stop you have to tear the house down right so
it's talking about mold right so you see these conditions now in all of these the
pouring out of blood and from a human person in some way mold on your walls
visible infections on the body or these certain types of animals did anybody
gather okay you can eat a cow you can eat you can eat an antelope but what
kind of animals can you not eat
scavengers what else predators yeah so predatorial animals are disallowed
scavenging animals are disallowed right any type of animal that's associated
with what what types of things are scavengers cave-dwelling animals predators
associated with death and what is bleeding associated with death and what
is visible infection associated with decay and death right and so what we have
here is that in all these instances of the cleanliness code the cleanliness
code is not suggesting that someone who gives birth is a sinner for it no not at
all and it's not suggesting that somebody who contracts leprosy is a sinner
for that not at all and it's not saying that an amphibian that lives in a cave
is a particularly sinful type of animal not at all the issue is not sin the
issue is the symbolic reality of the curse upon the world that results in
visible defilement or I should say contamination that leads to symbolic
defilement all right so in all these cases you can see on the back of your
sheet what does it all mean and number one the meaning of this is this that in
every one of these instances and in the whole tour of there's this spectrum that
takes place in symbols and the spectrum goes from the order of life life and
order life and organization right what's the difference in a garden in the
wilderness you can have the same exact plants right in the wilderness in the
garden but the difference is in the in the garden they're organized so gardens
are just organized wildernesses which makes them not wildernesses anymore
there's life in order life in order are signs of the presence of God and then
there's this spectrum that goes all the way to the other end of death and chaos
life away from the presence of the Lord and so in the Old Testament the
wilderness is the visible sign in terms of place of death and chaos right so if
you're at the mountain of God Sinai the Garden of Eden you're near the presence
of God you're near life in your near order but if you worship an idol where
do you go you go to the wilderness for 40 years you wonder where's the wilderness
the wilderness is the land of death it's the land of chaos it's the land of
danger another symbol that plays this out in the Old Testament is seas right so
the land is the place of life the seas are the place of death quite often
symbolically in the Old Testament and so you've got this playing out exactly in
the cleanliness and defilement codes here the unclean is both symbolic and
simultaneously a real expression of the curse on creation right so it's never
sinful for a woman to give birth but it is a sign of the curse at the same time
why because in Genesis 3 childbirth was cursed and so it's a public announcement
from God that this event is good and not what it should be full of pain right so
there's something wrong with this while in the midst of its greatness in the
midst of its beauty right so these are not sinful acts that no not at all none of
it being a leper no but at the same time you look at leprosy and you say that
shouldn't exist it's a product of defilement and curse right so what we
have in the cleanliness codes is a symbolic presentation of all the visible
conditions of the curse being manifest used through symbol to represent death
chaos and defilement right in other words when God says you're unclean what do
you have to do you have to stay outside the camp of God's people and the way
the camp was structured is the tabernacle is right at the center and then in
concentric circles the people camp around it right but if you're unclean you
have to live outside the boundary of the camp meaning what death chaos and the
symbols of death and chaos do not belong in the city of God they don't belong in
the presence of God and so what that means to take it to bring it all
together is that the camp of Israel in the Torah is a representation of the
city of God that would one day come in the book of Revelation it's never to be
repeated we should never organize ourselves in the way they did we should
not follow it as a pattern for how to do church no not at all never because this
is a once in a in a in a whole in a whole of history moment in redemptive
history of a presentation of the symbol of the city of God that is to come right
it's showing that what one day we will have a life without the curse that's
the pronouncement of the cleanliness law so we can't reiterate probably how
strange these laws are to us as modern people and yet when you read them in the
light of the whole of redemptive history they make every sense as symbols now the
other thing I wanted to mention of that is in every one of these sections they
give you a reason for them and one of the reasons that gets put they get
repeated is to say that I brought you out of Egypt so don't do that and that
means that there there's something here there's aspects of these laws here that
we just don't understand as modern people that weren't in the context with
them and one of those aspects is very probably that a lot of the things are
being spoken against here are things that were happening in Egypt so God says
later in Leviticus don't drink blood and it's very probably because the
Egyptians drank blood and so he's over and over again he says I brought you out
of Egypt stop behaving like an Egyptian you should look different you should be
a sign of the world to come a better world and so that's one of the things
that's going on throughout these passages all right how does it matter to
us before I mentioned that let me just wrap up a couple of threads that I've
mentioned earlier never wrapped up one is why why in the world would a woman be
unclean for seven days with a boy 14 days with a daughter and it is because in
Leviticus the boy is circumcised on the eighth day and the act of circumcision
that takes place in Levitical code is an act of sacrifice meaning it is the
natoning act the cutting is an atoning act and so it shortens the
uncleanliness it's all symbol right we know in Hebrews the blood of bulls and
goats or the act of circumcision any of it is not salvific in the slightest right
it's sign and symbol right and so in the Old Testament when the covenants are
made the verb that gets used every time is that the covenants are not made the
verb is actually they're cut so when you read something like and he made a
covenant with Abraham it says in Hebrew he cut the covenant with Abraham and
that's why circumcision was the associated sign the cutting as hard as
it is for us to talk about maybe here that's exactly what was going on and
why the language was used right and so that's the difference in the seven and
fourteen days so let's a little threads like that in Leviticus you pick up on
and say but why was this why that and there usually are very helpful answers
on things like that and sometimes they just have to be hunted for a little bit
how does this matter to us I wanted to just mention one or two things and we'll
close and that's this I'm quoting here from I've printed a piece of this in
your in your handout Sinclair Ferguson tells the story of a friend of his who
had been converted to Christ out of a lifestyle of drug abuse and all sorts of
trouble and addiction and in recounting the story Ferguson said that his friend
would often say to him for something dirty to become clean for something dirty
to be cleaned something else has to become dirty and so for you to clean
something that's dirty the thing you use to clean it with has to become dirty
right and then his friend would say that's what happened to me that's the
gospel and somebody would have to become unclean so that we might become clean
and when you come to the gospels what do we have what scenes do we have I've
listed I haven't listed them actually what what scenes did the uncleanness
laws remind you of or what what in the gospels comes up I'll give it's okay if
nobody wants to say anything but but I'll just maybe give an option to ask can
you can you think of moments in the gospels where Leviticus 11 to 15 are
directly raised in the narrative in the story with Jesus it will in Leviticus
17 to 19 so come come back to that one in a few weeks yes when Jesus heals the
leper and when Jesus heals the leper the leper says if you will touch me I could
be clean I could be healed right and the disciples were there the scribes saw
this now if you were a scribe if you're a disciple of the first century Jewish
you know your Leviticus backwards and forwards right what are you saying to
Jesus in that moment what are you thinking do not touch him you you can't
come to the temple you can't be in the presence of God you can't come to Sabbath
and Jesus says I will be clean and he touches him right what else any others
there's a few the woman that we're told is bleeding has a has had a discharge of
blood whatever it is we don't know for years right and what happens in that
story she touches him and he doesn't become unclean she becomes clean right
and so we have all these moments in the gospels there's more than just that where
Jesus is coming and not only not not subverting the cleanliness laws no
that's a temptation for us to think that but what is he doing he's fulfilling
the cleanliness laws he is showing that he is the object of the sign and symbol
the shadows of the cleanness laws are finding their fulfillment in him and so
just like Sinclair's friend said something for something dirty to become
clean something must become dirty and that's the gospel so in the same way a
guy I know in the States named Nick Badsig he says at the cross Jesus was
treated as a spiritual leper on the cross he took the unstoppable flow of
blood he subjected himself to death on the tree he was made sin for us that we
might become the righteousness of God in him now when Jesus touched the leper a
Jesus touch or the woman touched him he did not become unclean in himself he
did not become a sinner but he did become unclean in a different distinct way so
you see what's happening there it's not that he became a sinner like her but he
became ceremonially unclean and that's exactly what gets picked up on in
2nd Corinthians 521 when it says he who knew no sin became sin in every way now
what does the word became mean some of you are in st class today and we talked
about this what does it mean that he became thin it does not mean that he
became a sinner no no no if he became a sinner the gospel is lost forever he
never became a sinner yet Jean yet the uncleanliness was reckoned to him
accounted to him placed upon him by the judge of the courtroom the father in a
way that was never true of him that's the gospel he became dirty by reckoning
legally unclean by covenantal union with us never truly therefore he could be the
perfect righteousness who died in unjust death in our place right the gospel
depends on the fact that Jesus became unclean but was never unclean
simultaneously he was never a sinner but he became sin so all these cleanliness
laws are pointing to a symbol a reality in us chaos death destruction disaster
disease that was placed on him in the gospel but was never true of him and
that's the reason he can be our salvation lastly chapter 10 of Acts verse 3 we
learn that Cornelius Cornelius goes and get this this Gentile goes and gets
Peter the apostle and Peter has this vision and he sees this sheet descending
and in it the Lord says verse 12 all the animals the reptiles the birds of the
air rise Peter kill and eat and Peter says no way I've never eaten anything
common or unclean and then the Lord says what God has made clean you never call
common now for us because of Jesus the ceremonial laws of Leviticus 11 15 are
fulfilled and abrogated done away with right and we have that pronouncement
here in Acts chapter 10 and so I just want to finish with this on your sheet
because Jesus became the ceremonial leper because he blood because he became
the curse these ceremonies are fulfilled in him therefore 1st Timothy 4 4 to 5 is
there a reality to these ideas of common and sacred in our life yes there is how
well now the way it works clean and unclean you can treat something as common
or sacred or in other words the common can become sacred that's what this was
all about these cleanliness laws what common things like people or animals
can come to the presence of the Lord how can they become sacred well we have
that in the New Covenant too how does something become sacred holy in the New
Covenant era 1st Timothy 4 4 to 5 everything created by God is good and
nothing is to be rejected if it's received with Thanksgiving for it is
made holy by the word of God and prayer in other words everything in the
Christian life is made good if it is pronounced good by the word of God and
then a prayer of Thanksgiving so how do you make the table at your house sacred
you you pray you give thanks and say the Lord gave us this food and I dedicate
it I give it back to God in Thanksgiving and it has now been made holy we're
told so all the things the furniture the instruments in the Old Covenant to
enter into the temple they got to be holy but now in the New Covenant what
makes something holy just recognizing God made this it's not for me I'm just a
steward and praying a prayer of Thanksgiving and now you have taken
in this world and made it holy unto God you can do that with your work your
vocation you say I want my work life to be for the Lord you've taken something
that God said is good work but was cursed in Genesis 3 and reconstituted it
for the Lord in the light of the gospel and it's been set apart it's been
consecrated it's been made holy right all right let's pray Father we thank you
for the Old Covenant and the New Covenant for Leviticus and all that you
teach us there about Jesus through cleanliness and uncleanness laws defile
mental or we know we are people defiled by our sin and yet cleaned by Christ and
so I just ask Father that you would make these images and symbols powerful unto
us that we would not merely approach them as strange but in their strangeness to
us as modern people that would be because Jesus has come and so we ask that
you would teach us how to receive it in a new covenant order how we would think
about all the ways our lives can become holy unto the Lord all the things we do
the practices we take up Lord forgive us for the ways we continue to act in ways
that make us unclean through sin and we ask that you would habituate us away
from our sinful patterns mortify our sins and bring us closer and closer to
the undefiled life not because it earns us your favor but because we've already
got it and so we we asked for these hearts in Jesus name amen