Four Glorious Reasons Not to Skip Leviticus

“Many a resolution to read through the Bible was wrecked on the rocks of Leviticus.”

People all over the sanctuary nodded as my pastor said those words. I did too. I was a Leviticus shipwreck. 

Each year, I’d respond to the call to read through the Bible. I’d charge through Genesis, awed by the wonder of creation, the spellbinding faith of Abraham, and the soap-opera drama of the twelve sons of Jacob. Then I’d march into Exodus, propelled forward by the cinematic excitement of the Israelites’ emancipation from Egypt.

Then I’d hit Leviticus, a book full of fatty lobes of liver, leprosy, and blood. 

So. Much. Blood. 

But one year, I read a Bible that paired Old Testament readings with New Testament ones, and I actually made it through Leviticus. The next year, I did it again and something unexpected happened . . . I began to appreciate the book of Leviticus. 

I discovered that Leviticus is foundational to our Christian faith and a key to fully understanding the gospel—the good news of Jesus.

Imagine that.

Maybe you’re still skeptical. Believe me, I understand. But here are four glorious reasons not to skip the book of Leviticus as you read through the Bible.

1. Leviticus helps equip us for the good works God created us to do.

God, through the apostle Paul, said, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16–17).

Since God inspired all Scripture (including Leviticus), and He promises to use it to complete and equip us for the good works He’s created us to do, then we should not want to miss what He teaches us in Leviticus.

2. Leviticus helps us understand ourselves—and humanity.

Prior to the Leviticus narrative, God had manifested Himself to the Israelites in a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. He appeared as fire on the top of Mount Sinai, complete with thunder, lightning, and earthquakes. Because of their sin, the people were forbidden to draw near.

The Book of Exodus ended as Moses, the leader of the Israelites, set up a tent in the wilderness for God to dwell in. God’s glory so filled the tabernacle that Moses was unable to enter it (Ex. 40:25). Sinful humanity couldn’t stand in the presence of a holy God.

But in Leviticus, God prepared a way to dwell—to tabernacle—with His people.

God was making a way.

Leviticus begins with these words: “Then the LORD summoned Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting: ‘Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When any of you brings an offering to the LORD from the livestock, you may bring your offering from the herd or the flock. . . . He will bring it to the entrance to the tent of meeting so that he may be accepted by the LORD’” (Lev. 1:1–3).

When Adam and Eve rebelled against God in the garden, He temporarily covered their sin with the skin of an animal. In Leviticus, God revealed how He would provide a way for Israel’s sin to be covered so they could live in peace and fellowship with Him (a holy God)—until the final Redeemer would come to take away sin forever.

Leviticus helps us better understand the seriousness of our sin and the astonishing mercy of God who came down from heaven to make a way so mankind would no longer be barred from His presence because of their sin. 

3. Leviticus helps us understand Jesus.

When God instituted the Levitical sacrificial system, it involved lambs, goats, and doves as a type (an example) of the final sacrifice yet to come. As the writer of Hebrews said, 

In the sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year after year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. . . . Every priest stands day after day ministering and offering the same sacrifices time after time, which can never take away sins. But this man [Jesus], after offering one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God. (Hebrews 10:3–4, 11–12).

Jesus fulfilled God’s promise to send a Redeemer to save His people from their sins. God revealed this to John the Baptist by the river Jordan. Remember what John said? “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). 

At last, God had sent the Lamb, the final sacrifice who would shed His blood and lay down His life so humanity could have fellowship with God forever.

We can’t fully understand the glorious truth about this unless we read Leviticus. Its pages and pages of instructions about how and when and where to sacrifice capture the impossibility of making atonement for our own sins. It points to Jesus, the once-and-for-all sacrifice that ended forever our futile attempts to earn our salvation.

4. Jesus told us to read Leviticus.

Jesus never specifically said, “Read Leviticus,” but He did say, “Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4). That includes the book of Leviticus. 

If Jesus—the Creator of our bodies and the Lover of our souls—calls us to live on every word God has spoken, we can trust Him. He knows what we need to grow, flourish, and walk in joyful obedience.

Leviticus will never be my favorite book of the Bible. But because it equips me for the work God calls me to do, helps me better understand my sinful condition, points me to Jesus in all His sacrificial glory, and is part of God’s good Word for my life, I no longer dread it.

I thank God for Leviticus. And as you read through the Bible this year, I hope you will too.