By Barnabas Piper
Scripture Reading: Leviticus 9:1-7, Leviticus 16:29-34, Hebrews 4:14-16, Hebrews 5:1-10, Hebrews 10:11-14
Be honest: The first time you read the book of Leviticus—if you have braved the book of Leviticus—it left you with some questions. It is so detailed about seemingly obscure laws and instructions. It is repetitive. How does it apply to us today, especially since the cultural context is so different? For that matter, how does it even connect to the rest of Scripture? And to add one more pressing question: Why are we even considering Leviticus in a devotional about Advent?
The title Leviticus means that it has to do with the Levites, the tribe that included the priests in charge of caring for God’s dwelling place. So this book holds a lot of priestly law and instruction. Priests were those specifically called to serve in the house of God, and the high priest had particular duties of worship on behalf of God’s people. He was an intercessor, going to God on God’s terms on behalf of the people. He was responsible for the sacrifices that atoned for the sins of the people. While this is a simple sentence, it was of massive importance. This means that the high priest bore the responsibility of regularly taking the life of a variety of sacrificial animals in order for the people to be made right before God.
Atonement will be made for you on this day to cleanse you, and you will be clean from all your sins before the LORD.
—Leviticus 16:30
The high priest faithfully interceded for the people and offered atoning sacrifices. And when one priest passed away, God called another to replace him, generation after generation. Until…what? To what end?
Until Jesus, who the book of Hebrews calls “the great high priest” (Hebrews 4:14). Great high priest doesn’t simply mean better than the rest—it means final. It means He is the fulfillment of all that the previous high priests worked toward. They interceded and sacrificed faithfully, “But this man, after offering one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God,” (Hebrews 10:12) where “he lives to intercede” (Hebrews 7:25). His sacrifice was final because it was the only truly flawless and perfect sacrifice: His own life. Unlike the priests who came before him, He did not need to atone for His own sins (because He had none!). And He is the Great High Priest because, whereas every other priest served faithfully for a lifetime, He serves perfectly for eternity.
So when we read Leviticus with all its intricate laws and instruction, we are reading something that was never intended to be a permanent solution to sin. We are reading something that was always meant to foreshadow the Great High Priest, Jesus, the Son of God.
Written by Barnabas Piper
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