A book for pilgrims

You shall observe My judgments and keep My ordinances, to walk in them: I am the Lord your God. — Leviticus 18:4

Many people who determine to read the Bible through in a year get bogged down and quit about halfway through Leviticus. After the fascinating narrative in Genesis and the dramatic deliverance in Exodus, Leviticus seems to unfold with all the excitement of a technical manual for ancient clergymen. But don’t let the priestly details fool you. This is a textbook for pilgrims, a life-guide for people who have been delivered from their past and are on their way toward a glorious, God-planned future.

Near the center of the book we find God’s charge to His people. He told them they must not imitate the people of Egypt where they had been, nor the practices of those in Canaan where they were going. In Leviticus 18:4, He said to them, “You shall observe My judgments and keep My ordinances, to walk in them: I am the Lord your God.”

Leviticus is also filled with word pictures of God’s salvation, painted almost 1,500 years before Jesus was born. Every offering and sacrifice points to the cross of Christ, “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

On your journey from Genesis to Revelation, don’t let Leviticus stop you. Instead, let it be a wonderful bridge that takes you from the sacrifices to the Savior.                           — David McCasland

The offerings of animals,

Were made in days of old,

To point us to the Lamb of God,

His sacrifice foretold. — Fitzhugh

READ: Leviticus 18:1-5

The Old Testament altar points to the New Testament cross.

The Bible in one year:

• Leviticus 11-13