All for his glory!

And Moses said, “This is the thing that the Lord commanded you to do, that the glory of the Lord may appear to you.” (Lev 9:6)

Reading through Leviticus it's easy to get bogged down in all the details and regulations. I know some who believe that the book of Leviticus is there to show us how blessed we are in the New Covenant to be free from all this stuff, and to a certain extent they are right! But you come across some real gems in Leviticus, not only precious insight into the nature of the atonement, but also our purpose as God's priestly kingdom on the earth. Leviticus and indeed all the law expresses eternal truth. This is why Moses had to be very careful how he constructed the tabernacle, because what he was building was just an earthly reflection of an eternal heavenly reality. Those realities have now been revealed fully and perfectly in Christ, but the value of the Old Testament types in representing those realities remains.

In particular a verse like the one above stops me in my tracks. The intricate detail and description of activities and objects can distract you from the true purpose they represent. God was not conceding his eternal purpose for a while to dabble in institutional and ceremonial religion. It was all done so that he, the holy almighty awesome sovereign Lord, might display his glory to (and through!) his people. This is what set them apart from every other nation on the planet.

Even in the New Covenant, there is a danger that our Christian lives can become like a trudge through the book of Leviticus, if we become caught up, like Martha, in all the activities and details of our Christian walk, without bringing to mind their ultimate purpose. It's all for his glory! By this I do not just mean that we do all things to give God glory, but we will do everything to see God's glory. It is through us, the church, that God will display his glory and through us that it will fill the earth. Now that's something to get excited about!