Leviticus 21-22

What’s Happening?

Israel was called to be holy as God is holy. To be holy means to be set apart. Israel was set apart from the nations, who were spreading wickedness and death in the world. God called Israel to live differently—holy, distinct—so that they could represent him to the nations and bring his life and righteousness into a dying world. In this way, Israel as a whole was a priestly people.

But within this priestly nation, the family of priests was set apart even further. Just as Israel represented God to the nations, the priests represented God to Israel. As those who worked on and in God’s holy tabernacle, they were priests among priests. This meant, as their proximity to God increased, so their holiness increased.

Priests were not to touch a dead body except in rare cases. Their appearance was to reflect the fullness of life God gives—no bald spots, no unkempt hair, no blemishes. Their marriages were restricted to preserve the symbol of God’s faithful covenant. All of this displayed to Israel that God’s life is whole, perfect, and abundant, just as Israel’s holiness showed the nations that God’s ways are different from their destructive ones.

Even higher still was the high priest. Because he entered the most set apart place—the Holy of Holies—his life was marked by an even deeper set-apartness. The closer one came to God’s presence, the more holy, distinct, and different from the world they had to be.

This logic extended to food and offerings. Israel showed their holiness through their diet. Priests ate food set apart as holy, given from the sacrifices. And the sacrifices themselves had to be whole and without blemish. Since their blood came closest to God, the offerings too had to represent life, wholeness, and holiness.

The closer someone—or something—came to God, the more set apart it had to be.

Where is the Gospel?

These laws show us that God is utterly holy and perfectly set apart. Everything that draws near to him must reflect his wholeness and life.

Jesus fulfills this vision. He is the ultimate high priest—the most set apart—because he is God himself. As the priest among priests, he represents God to his people and the nations. He showed the world God’s holiness by bringing life to the dead, cleansing the polluted, and forgiving the wicked. His entire life was lived set apart to God.

But Jesus is not only the priest; he is also the offering. He is the blameless and costly sacrifice. By laying down his life, he showed us what God’s wholeness and life look like in action. The most set apart thing anyone could do is to give up their life in love while offering forgiveness to their enemies. Jesus is the ultimate holy offering.

And the logic of Leviticus is fulfilled in him. The closer someone came to God, the more set apart they had to be. Now, in Jesus, we are brought as close to God as possible—into union with him by the Spirit. Paul says, “We all, with unveiled faces, contemplate the Lord’s glory, [and] are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18). The nearer we draw to Jesus, the more we are made holy like him.

Jesus makes us holy. He washes us, sets us apart, and fills us with his Spirit. He forms us into a nation of priests who represent him to the world. Like Israel before us, we are set apart from the world’s wickedness to bring God’s life and righteousness into it. And like the priests, we are also the offering. Jesus calls us to present our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God (Romans 12:1).

Jesus is the set apart priest and the blameless offering who creates a holy people. Through him, we are priests to the nations and the sacrifice that brings God’s life to the world.

See for Yourself

I pray that the Holy Spirit would open your eyes to see the God who is perfectly holy and set apart. And may you see Jesus as the high priest and blameless sacrifice who makes us into a holy people—priests and offerings—so that the life of God might go to all nations.