| Lightbearers Institute - Lessons from Leviticus |
16 March 2010 |
Dr. Eddie Johnston taught recently on Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy and provided all of us in the class with a great summary picture of God's greater purpose in the detail of these books.
The most exciting moment in the class for me was in Dr. Johnston's opening prayer, in which he spoke with such passion and awe of our God, while yet communicating a deep personal relationship with the Lord and His Word at the same time.
There were three key moments that impacted me as Dr. Johnston spoke:
1) From Leviticus 1, the animal sacrifice had to be without defect because the one offering the sacrifice was with defect - and these were people in a covenant relationship with God! Also, we were taught that the Israelites were to lay their hands on the sacrifice as a means of saying, "Lord, this is a substitute for me." For us today, it is important to recognize that Jesus Christ is that substitute without defect, and that we should cling to Him as such, knowing that we ourselves were found with defect before Him but still He offered us a covenant relationship with Him. What grace!
2) As the first seven chapters of Leviticus speak of offerings, Dr. Johnston spoke of our being enabled to be a gift to God when we present ourselves as an offering to Him - but that this is only possible because of the substitute of Christ. What a blessing to be presented as a gift to God!
3) Still speaking of Christ's substitute, we were reminded that the very words by which the fall came (Eve to Adam: "Take, and eat...") are the same means by which our fellowship with God came (Jesus: "Take, and eat...this is my body"). This speaks of the mercy of God in our lives - taking fallen and defected man and offering relationship and fellowship with God through the substitute of Christ. That's awesome!
Rebekah Burns, Lightbearers Staff
