Throughout the last few chapters of Leviticus we’ve seen the phrase that shows up in 22:32…

“I am the LORD who sanctifies you.”

There’s a lot to learn from this one sentence.  Sanctification is the process of becoming more and more holy as we mature in our faith. Justification is the term used for our initial salvation where we cross over from death to life.  Sanctification is the ongoing growth that occurs afterward.

Normally we view justification as a work of God, not ourselves, and we view sanctification as a work of ourselves, not God.  However this is misguided and unbiblical.  Sanctification is a work of God just as justification is.

In both there are requirements of us.  To be justified, for instance, one must first put their faith in Christ, repent of their sins, confess Jesus as Lord, and be baptized.  But the justifying is done completely by God.

In sanctification we are required to first draw near to God and open up our hearts to him so that he may work on us and make us more holy.  We’re responsible to do something, but the sanctification (like justification) is entirely God’s work.

So how do we place ourselves before the throne of God with open hearts and hands, ready to be made holy?  Spiritual disciplines.  We discipline ourselves to draw near to God regularly and consistently.  This happens through daily Bible reading, consistent and focused prayer, mediation on the word and wonders of God, fasting, memorizing Scripture, practicing silence and solitude, journaling, worshipping, participating in fellowship with other Christians, etc.

If you’d like to learn more about spiritual disciplines let me encourage you to pick up a copy of Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster – the bar-none best book on the subject.

“You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.”  – Leviticus 19:2

This is the theme verse for the entire book of Leviticus.  In fact, it is the theme verse for the entire OT law of God.  This is a verse to memorize/highlight/underline.

The message God is communicating here is two-fold.

First, God has ultimate authority and therefore he expects us to fully obey his commandments.  Over and over again in the book of Leviticus you will see this phrase directly after a commandment:  “I am the LORD.”  Part of the reason for this is God is saying to the people, “I have authority over you.  I’m your master.  You are obligated to do what I say.”  And that’s 100% true for us today as well.  God is our creator, so he owns us.  He can also destroy us at any time, so we must fear him.  Not only that, but if you’re a Christian, God is your savior so he’s bought you over again.  We are doubly his.  He has ultimate authority on our lives.

Second, every command of God is meant to reveal his character to his people.  We’re to be holy as God is holy.  We’re to image him forth to the world.  We’re to be like him.  So every time you read a commandment in the Bible ask yourself: What does this teach me about God’s character?

For instance, in 19:26 God says, “You shall not interpret omens or tell fortunes.”  That tells me that God reserves exclusive rights to knowing the future.  It’s one of the ways that he shows he alone is the true God.  Furthermore, we don’t have the power to do that stuff accurately anyway, so God’s telling us to leave that to him, because we’d be making fools of ourselves.  Finally, if anyone does have the power to do such things it’s only by satanic and demonic help.  Therefore God wants to shield us from the dangers of interacting with Satan or his demons because in the end all they want to do is harm us.

So even on commandments that clearly don’t apply today (like 19:27) they’re not worthless to read.  They can teach us about the character of God.

One of the more surprising events in the Bible comes in today’s reading – Leviticus 10:1-2.  Here God strikes down Nadab and Abihu for offering “unauthorized fire” (some translations read “strange fire”).  So what’s the big deal?

Well first, it’s important to note that this was an act outside the explicit instructions God had given to Aaron and his sons.  We’ve seen that God gave the priests a lengthy and detailed list of instructions for rituals they were to perform, and the reason was to show them that they are sinners and they cannot be in the presence of a holy and righteous God because of their sin.  So they must consecrate themselves before coming before God.  Nadab and Abihu did not follow God’s instructions and God killed them for it.

You may be wondering why God didn’t just warn them instead of killing them dead on the spot.  Often when God begins a new thing in the Bible he will be very strict with enforcing the rules he’s laid down with the people and will even sometimes kill someone to warn the others (See Joshua 7, 2 Sam. 6:1-7, and Acts 5).

Finally, verse 9 could be a hint as to what happened as well.  In this verse, seemingly out of nowhere, God prohibits coming before him after drinking wine or alcohol.  Therefore Nadab and Abihu could have been drunk while offering the fire, which would explain why they forgot to heed some of the rules God had laid down.

Yet again God is showing us the seriousness of our sin and how it separates us from him.  God absolutely hates sin and wants to wipe it out.  So we can’t just come into God’s presence however we please.  We’d be struck down dead!  We need to be cleansed and forgiven.  We need to be consecrated as holy.  All this happens through Jesus’ death on the cross and our faith in him.

Furthermore it shows us the importance of following God’s commands correctly, even when it seems like it might not be a big deal to make a change.  It certainly didn’t seem like a big deal to offer fire in that certain way to Nadab and Abihu.  But God saw it as an extreme offense.  We need to know the commands of God in the Bible and do our very best to follow them to the ‘T’.  We don’t have the freedom to simply change God’s commands in the ways that we want.  We must follow the way God has told us to.  We must recognize his ultimate authority and our rightful position as submissive servants.

Today was all about priests – Aaron’s sons.  In chapter 7 God lays out how the priests benefit from the sacrifices and how they are supposed to offer them.  In chapter 8 we see all that Moses and the priests had to do to consecrate themselves before the Lord so they would be acceptable to serve in that way.

In chapter 7 we learn an important principle that still applies today.  Namely, those who serve full time doing the work of the Lord should make their living from the contributions given by the people they serve.  This is why ministers are paid.  This is part of the reason we’re called to give $$ regularly to the church that serves us.  Our tithes and offerings are how the ministers make and sustain a living.  This is reaffirmed in the New Testament:  See 1 Cor. 9:14 and 1 Tim. 5:17-18.  

In chapter 8 we learn all the different rituals that had to be performed just so Aaron’s sons could become priests.  I believe God includes all of this to show us how utterly sinful and depraved we are and to show us how far our sin separates us from God.  In verse 35 we learn that all of this had to be done so that they wouldn’t die.  This is because God hates sin and cannot be in its presence.  In fact he actively works to wipe it out.  Therefore, if we came into God’s holy presence simply the way we are, he would kill us instantly because of our sinfulness.

But thanks be to God because Jesus Christ has provided a way for us to come into God’s presence despite our sinfulness!  Take some time and read Heb. 4:14-16, Heb. 9:1-10:18.  Those passages explain that Jesus is the new and final high priest.  There’s no need for another.  Just as Moses, then the priests, were the mediators between God and the people, Jesus is now the perfect and final mediator between God and men (1 Tim. 2:5).

Today we read about the Sin Offering and the Guilt Offering.  These two sacrifices were very similar in scope and purpose.  Both primarily focus on unintentional sin – when someone breaks one of God’s laws, but they don’t realize they have.

The key here is stated in Lev. 5:17 & 5:19.  In short, those verses say this:  Just because someone didn’t know they were sinning, it doesn’t mean they’re not guilty.  They are still guilty before God. 

What does this teach us about our lives as they relate to God today?  Well first, there will be some who live their whole lives without realizing they are sinning against God.  They surely have known it in their hearts at one time (Rom. 1:19-20, 2:14-16), but they have suppressed that truth (Rom. 1:18) and their consciences have been seared and are faulty (1 Tim. 4:2).  So when you share the gospel with some people, they might not know they are in the wrong.  Part of sharing the gospel with others is getting them to see that they are guilty before God and their sin makes them an enemy of God (Rom. 5:10).

Another thing we learn is that we all have sins that we are likely unaware of.  It’s a very good prayer to ask God to reveal your sins to you, so that you may repent and cut them out of your life.  David asked God to forgive him of his secret sins (Psalm 19:12).  But once we are made aware of something, we must immediately repent, seek God’s forgiveness, and do all we can to right our wrong or rid our lives of the sin.  Moses did this, if you’ll remember, in Exodus 4:24-26.

Other helpful verses on this topic include Luke 12:48, and Matthew 16:22-23 where Peter does something with good intentions, but Jesus reveals to him he is in sin.