The Gospel in Leviticus

Jesus is the Great High Priest and the sin offering. It may be natural to think of Leviticus in terms of the grace of the gospel, because its ideas and concepts find their ultimate fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus--sacrificial atonement or the priesthood. Hebrews makes these connections by emphasizing again and again that Jesus is the Great High Priest (Heb 4:14; 10:21), the one without sin (Heb 9:14; 9:7), who offers himself as the ultimate sacrifice that cleanses all our sin (Heb 1:3; 7:26-27; 9:12, 14, 26, 28; 10:10, 12, 14; 13:11-12) which gives us confidence to draw near to God (Heb 10:19-22).

Delight in the Law. On the other hand it is difficult to make the connection with the grace of God in the gospel because Leviticus is primarily a collection of laws. It is common to view these laws as being disconnected from grace, and being burdensome and undesirable. However, Psalm 119 is a celebration of God's law (which includes Leviticus!), something the psalmist longs for (Ps 119:20, 40, 131) and delights in (Ps 119:16, 24, 35, 47, 70, 77, 143, 174).

Grace comes before the Law. The Law was given to the Israelites after God redeemed them (Exodus 20-24), not before (Exodus 1-19). It was to help them know how to live as the "kingdom of priests and holy nation" he called them to be (Ex 19:5-6), and how to live properly in relationship with God, with one another, and with his world. They were to follow these laws not to earn salvation, but as the appropriate response of reverential love and worship to the Lord who had already redeemed them. This is similar to Christians who are exhorted to live lives of wholehearted obedience as the only appropriate response to the amazing mercies of God found in Christ (Rom 12:1).

Remember two things. When reading Leviticus, remember:

1. the many ways Jesus has become the far greater priest who intercedes for us on the basis of his perfect and far greater atoning sacrifice.
2. that obedience to God's law is not meant to earn brownie points but to be an appropriate response to the salvation he has already so richly provided.

 Where is the gospel in Leviticus? On every page.

The Gospel in Genesis.
The Gospel in Exodus.

ESV Gospel Transformation Bible.