Class 01 introduction

The Study of Leviticus
Class 1
Introduction to Leviticus

Introduction
 The central truth presented in Leviticus is that without
the spilling of blood there is no remission for sin.
 Aaron and his sons served God and had fellowship
with him, through lives separated, holy unto God.
 Our task in this course is to learn how to serve God
and have fellowship with him through holy living.

Introduction
 This is a summary of the life of the Church: fellowship,
service and a holy life.
 Leviticus is the richest book of the Bible in figures and
types. The book should not be studied without
considering its types and figures.

Introduction
 The difference between the Levites and priests
 The Levites and the priests were both descendants of
Levi.
 The Levites were the priests helpers.
 The priests always had to be descendants of Aaron;
thus, it was the Aaronic priesthood.
 The Levites were descendants of the three sons of Levi:
Gershon, Kohath e Merari.

Introduction
 The high priest was responsible for entering the holy of
holies, once per year, on the great day of atonement, to
intercede for Israel.
 The high priests were chosen among the other priests
according to a type of waiting list. Each month, one of
the priests from the list took his turn to serve as High
Priest.

Estudo de Levítico
Introdução
 Genesis speaks of the chosen people of God.
 Exodus speaks of the delivered people of God; his will
revealed in the law and his presence revealed in the
tabernacle.
 Leviticus speaks of how to draw near to God and what
he requires of those who come into his presence.

Introduction
 Some important points to be stressed:
 The New Testament equivalent of the book of Leviticus
is the book of Hebrews. The two books should be read
together if possible.
 Chapter 16 is the central chapter of Leviticus, which
refers to the great Day of Atonement.
 The New Testament refers to the book of Leviticus 40
times.

Introduction
1. The name of the book
 The Hebrew Bible calls it “Wajjida”, which means “and
he called”, conforming to the Hebrew tradition of calling
each book of Scripture by the first words that are written
in it.
 In the Latin Vulgate, the name is “Leviticus”, which
means “that concerning Levi”.
 The translators of the Septuagint (LXX) called it
“Levitikón”.

Introduction
2. The theme of the book
 The theme of Leviticus is summed up by the phrase: “Be
holy for I am holy”. This is a serious word: “holiness”.
 The book teaches the way that one should seek out this
holiness is through the sacrifices and offerings.
 Aaron and his sons served God and had fellowship with
him, they were separated unto God. This is the essence
of the life of the church: fellowship with God, service to
God and a holy life.

Introduction
3. The author
 In more than 50 places, in its 27 chapters, the book of
Leviticus affirms that it was composed of the writings of
Moses, which were given to him by God.
 The New Testament, equally introduces a quote from the
book attributing it to Moses...” (Romans 10:5). Therefore
it is unquestionably the written work of Moses.

Introduction
4. Date
 According to the majority of Christian scholars, the book
was written around 1,450. B.C., spanning across a
period of approximately 10 months.

Introduction
5. Outline
 a) The way to God through sacrifice (1-10):
 The law of offerings (five offerings) (1-7);
 The law of the priesthood (8-10).
 b) Walking with God through sanctification (11-27):
 The law of purity (11-16);
 The law holiness (17 a 22);
 The feasts of the Lord (23-27).

Leviticus - Chap. 1
The Burnt Offering
 The Burnt Offering
 The basic meaning of the burnt offering is consecration
to God.
 The sacrifice was not offered for sins (in the plural), but
for sin (in the singular).
 The burnt offering passed through the fire, resulting in
smoke that rose to heaven.

Leviticus - Chap. 1
The Burnt offering
 The burnt offering was not voluntary, it was necessary
in order to be accepted before the Lord.
 This was the most common sacrifice of the tabernacle,
it was a daily offering.
 The burnt offering typifies the death of Jesus on the
cross, with the difference that his offering was once for
all, and the burnt offering was a daily sacrifice.

Leviticus - Chap. 1
The Burnt offering
1. The animals
 Each animal represents one aspect of Christ’s death.
 They had to be without blemish in order to represent
Jesus who offered himself, without defect, as a burnt
offering to God.

Leviticus - Chap. 1
The Burnt offering
 Bull
 The bull typifies Christ as a servant, suffering patiently
(Hebrews 12:2-3). The calf is obedient unto death. Jesus
obediently went to the cross (Isaiah 52:13-15;
Philippians 2:5-8).
 Lamb
 The Lamb typifies Christ in his submission, with no
resistance to death. Neither did Jesus resist death
(Isaiah 53:12; Acts 32:35).

Leviticus - Chap. 1
The Burnt offering
 Goat (kid)
 The goat is a type of the sinner (Matthew 25:33, 41:56).
The goat typifies Christ, who was counted among the
transgressors. He who knew no sin, God made to
become sin for us (Isaiah 53:12;88; 2 Corinthians 5:21).

Leviticus - Chap. 1
The Burnt offering
 Turtledove and young pigeon
 These birds are natural symbols of suffering and
innocence (Isaiah 38:14; 59, 11; Hebrews 7:26). They
are also associated with poverty (Leviticus 5:7). Christ,
as God being rich became poor so that we could
become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9; John 17:15).

Leviticus - Chap. 1
The Burnt offering
2. The laying on of hands
 In verse four, we read that the person making the
offering should lay his hands on the animal, in order for it
to be accepted in his favor. This shows us the aspect of
our identification with Christ.
 When someone laid their hands on an animal, he was
identifying himself with the offering, it was as if he
himself were dying at that moment. (Romans 6:3-11; 2
Corinthians 5:14-15, 21).

Leviticus - Chap. 1
The Burnt offering
 This is why the burnt offering was not for committed sins
but for the fact that the person was a sinner.
 Since we all came from Adam, we were all born in sin.
This old Adamic nature must be crucified, it must receive
God’s punishment. Christ suffered this punishment and
freed us from slavery to sin.

Leviticus - Chap. 1
The Burnt offering
3. The animal was slain by the worshiper
 After the person who made the sacrificed laid his hands
on the animal, he had to kill it himself. The animal was
killed by the same person who offered the sacrifice. This
shows us that we crucified Christ because of our sins.

Leviticus - Chap. 1
The Burnt offering
4. The blood was sprinkled
 The priest would sprinkle the blood around the brazen
altar. (Hebrews 9:22)
 The Lord is not only the sacrifice, he is also the priest, he
is the mediator between God and man. He shed his
blood upon the altar, at the entrance to the tabernacle of
meeting. To God this means that the blood of that
person has already been shed, and he has no more sin.

Leviticus - Chap. 1
The Burnt offering
5. the animal was skinned
 The next step was to skin the burnt offering (1:6).
 To skin the animal means to take away all appearances,
to strip away all that is beautiful to the eyes. Jesus in his
glory, in love stripped himself of all his comeliness and
glory to become as a man (Isaiah 53:4-5).

Leviticus - Chap. 1
The Burnt offering
 When the offering was a bird, it’s feathers had to be
plucked. The feathers represent beauty and appearance.
Jesus stripped himself of all his comeliness, to the point
that “when we saw him, there was no beauty that we
should desire him” (Isaiah 53:2).

Leviticus - Chap. 1
The Burnt offering
6. The animal was cut in pieces
 Because of our sins, the Lord was wounded on the
cross and bruised for our iniquities (Isaiah 53:5).

Leviticus - Chap. 1
The Burnt offering
7. The entrails were exposed, washed and offered
 This shows us our need to be completely exposed
before God in our motivations and attitudes.
 Jesus was completely tested and proved. His entrails
were exposed and from them water and blood flowed.

Leviticus - Chap. 1
The Burnt offering
8. The offering had to be burned with fire
 Normally fire means God’s judgment. When God comes
to exact judgment, normally he does it by fire.
 The fire does not only represent God’s judgment, but in
this context, it is the correct meaning.

Leviticus - Chap. 1
The Burnt offering
 Jesus suffered the fire of God’s wrath, in our place. We
must believe that God’s justice has been completely
satisfied, since Christ suffered the judgment.
 The fire on the altar could never be allowed to be
extinguished (Leviticus 6:12-13).

Leviticus - Chap. 1
The Burnt offering
9. A sweet smelling sacrifice
 Only the burnt offering, the grain offering and the peace
offering were sweet smelling sacrifices. This is because
they were not related to committed sins.
 Naturally the sweet smell comes from the heart and the
attitude of the person offering the sacrifice and not the
offering itself.

Leviticus - Chap. 1
The Burnt offering
 Summary
 The burnt offering was of a bull, lamb, goat, turtledove or
dove. Each animal represents an aspect of Christ, and
had to be without defect, spotless, representing Christ’s
perfection.

Leviticus - Chap. 1
The Burnt offering
 The worshiper brought the animal to the door of the
tabernacle of meeting and laid his hands on it, in this
way identifying with the death of the animal. Christ also
died so that we could die with him.
 The animal was slain by the worshiper and then the
priest sprinkled the blood on the altar and the animal
was cut into pieces and skinned.
 Afterward everything was burned with fire.

Leviticus - Chap. 1
The Burnt offering
 Occasions in which the burnt offering was made
 By women in the ceremony of purification after birth.
Leviticus 12
 By a leper when he was healed. Leviticus 14
 At the consecration of a priest. Leviticus 8
 During the feast of Pentecost. Leviticus 23:15-25.

Class 01 introduction

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Class 01 introduction