Author: Brian Burdett

“For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.” – Leviticus 17:11

Life is in blood. Blood is life (verse 14). This ancient principle explains what Jesus did for us on the cross. It explains why Jesus went to the cross. It explains why Jesus took on a human body and nature and entered our world in the first place. Life is in blood. However, sin leads to death. All sin is rebellion against God’s authority and He is the source of all life. To sin is to separate ourselves from life and bring death upon ourselves. Hence the beginning of Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death…” The truth is that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)

Because sin is death and blood is life, God appointed the sacrifice of blood to make atonement for sin. When we sin, either die for that sin or something innocent must die in our place. That’s what Jesus came to do. He lived a perfect, sinless life and then went to the cross to make atonement for our sins. His body broken and His blood shed to wash away our sins. His blood gives eternal life when trust in Him, His death, and His resurrection from the dead.

Similarly, every covenant of God is sealed with blood, because blood is life and to break a covenant is to ask for death. Jesus sealed the new covenant of grace through His shed blood. We’re no longer doomed to the futility of trying to save ourselves by good works and self-discipline. We are renewed and transformed by God’s grace through faith in His Son. His blood for our lives. Blood is life. #FollowJesus

“Anyone whom the one with the discharge touches without having rinsed his hands in water shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening.” – Leviticus 15:11

This is what makes the story in which a woman with a years-long discharge of blood is healed by touching the fringe of Jesus’ cloak so remarkable. That story isn’t just about extraordinary faith and the power of Jesus to heal. It’s one of two interconnected stories in which Jesus has contact with someone who, according to the Law, should have made Him unclean but didn’t. Instead, Jesus healed the woman and raised a dead child to life!

What makes these stories so important is that under the Law, uncleanness spread like a virus. If anyone touched something or someone unclean, because of leprosy, the discharge of bodily fluids, or death, that person became unclean. Uncleanness spread like wildfire. Under the Law, there is only one Being able to reverse that flow of uncleanness. Only one Being Who spread cleanness rather than uncleanness. God. Only God could make the unclean clean. Only God could have contact with the unclean and not become unclean Himself.

In these stories in which Jesus came in contact with someone or something unclean under the Law, the fact that He never became unclean and instead healed the underlying cause of uncleanness is a powerful evidence that He is God. They aren’t just great miracles, they are the quiet testimony that Jesus is God come in the flesh. God come to earth to make all who put their faith in Him clean forever. This is the person and power of Jesus – trust and do not doubt that if you are in Christ, you have been made clean! #FollowJesus

“The leprous person who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose, and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean.’ He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. He is unclean. He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp.” – Leviticus 13:45-46

This was the miserable life of anyone infected with a contagious skin disease in ancient Israel! To have leprosy was to be unclean – in the sight of God, in the sight of your neighbors, and in your own sight. If you were a leper, UNCLEAN became your identity. You had to dress unclean, look unclean, and shout “unclean” whenever a regular person got too close. A leper couldn’t live with anyone. Couldn’t participate in religious or social life. Cut off from God and cut off from people. As a literal outcast, a leper couldn’t even experience the touch of another human being, because their uncleanness would spread.

That’s what makes it so profoundly moving when Jesus not only heals a leper but touches him. Jesus didn’t need to touch anyone to heal them. But He reached out to touch a man who hadn’t been touched in years. He restored his dignity. He let them, once again, feel human touch. He made clear that they were no longer defined by uncleanness. They weren’t rejected by God but touched by Him. It’s one of the most beautiful, compassionate, humane acts our Savior did during His earthly ministry. Why did Jesus do it? Because that’s Who He is!

Please know that there’s no uncleanness – literal or figurative – that Jesus can’t touch and make clean. There’s nothing and no one so hopeless that Jesus won’t lovingly reach out to give dignity and transformation. If there are dark, shameful, or unclean parts of your life, it’s time to let Jesus touch them. Invite Him to make them clean. Refuse to let “unclean” be your identity. Welcome the love and grace of Jesus Christ that makes you clean and whole in Him. #FollowJesus

“If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer a male without blemish. He shall bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the Lord.” – Leviticus 1:3

Most Christians are inclined to skip or skim Leviticus. It’s natural…. This book is meticulously detailed, long, repetitious, and bloody. Resist that temptation, at least from time to time. There’s a holy purpose to this divinely inspired book. Through it, we see the terrible price of sin. All sin. Any sin. Your sin. Sin always brings death and the removal of sin always requires that something innocent die.

That’s the fundamental principle laid out in this third verse of the entire book. Those sacrifices must be without blemish. In the context of animal sacrifices, this has to do with physical condition and appearance. The animal has to genuinely represent a sacrifice, something healthy and valuable that the person making the sacrifices regrets to part with. Infinitely more important is what this tells us about the sacrifice Jesus made on our behalf. He had to be without blemish. He had to be perfect and without any sin. He had to live a life that perfectly fulfilled God’s Law in order to be able to offer Himself an acceptable sacrifice for our sin.

Jesus resisted every temptation in order to be without blemish. He kept every law so he would be without blemish. He spoke, thought, and acted righteously in every situation, no matter how trying, to be without blemish. Because He did, His sacrifice on the cross paid the penalty for your sins. Because Jesus was the Lamb of God without blemish, all who believe in Him are washed clean, forgiven, and reconciled to God. Guilt is gone and shame is no more because Jesus was the sacrifice without blemish. Jesus is the fulfillment of everything the book of Leviticus points toward and illustrates. Remember that as you choose NOT to skim or skip over this God-breathed book! #FollowJesus

“There were twelve stones with their names according to the names of the sons of Israel. They were like signets, each engraved with its name, for the twelve tribes.” – Exodus 39:14

Throughout the many centuries the High Priests of Israel served in the Tabernacle and later Temples, they wore a breastplate with twelve engraved gemstones representing the twelve tribes of Israel. They also wore stones engraved with the names of the tribes on their shoulders. Whenever the priest went before the Lord, he put on these representations of all God’s people. This was because the role of the priest was to represent the people before God. To make sacrifices for their sins, offer incense to God, and intercede on their behalf in prayer.

All of that pointed forward to what Jesus does for His people. The Book of Hebrews proclaims that Jesus is our eternal great high priest, always representing us to God the Father and making intercession on our behalf. However, Jesus doesn’t wear a breastplate or shoulder pieces to represent us. Instead, He put on humanity itself. The eternal and divine Son of God took on a human body and nature, being born into our world. He become fully human in addition to being fully divine. He did this so He could represent us, offer Himself as a sacrifice for our sins, and continue to intercede for us up to this very moment.

Jesus is our great and perfect high priest! He doesn’t merely wear engraved stones to represent us, He became flesh and dwelt among us. He doesn’t have to make atonement for any sins of His own, so He made complete atonement for all who believe in Him. Unlike the high priests of old, Jesus never takes off His priestly garb. He remains in a glorified human body, always making intercession for us from the right hand of the Father. If Jesus is your Lord, then He is also your great high priest, able to save you to the uttermost and always interceding on your behalf. #FollowJesus