The Cleanliness of Holliness (Leviticus 11:1-15:33)
If cleanliness is next to Godliness it is because of these five chapters. Going back to God’s instructions to the priests in chapter 10:
There is the holy and the unholy, and there is the clean and the unclean. Leviticus will go on to talk about the holiness that God expects from His people, and there is a distinction between the moral holiness and the ritual holiness. A distinction of type, but not importance.
What is it that makes something clean? People have tried to see the patterns or the reasons behind God’s classification. The real reason something is unclean and needs to be avoided is because God says it is. There may indeed be other reasons God forbids certain foods or contact with illnesses, but the important thing to remember is that God’s people need to follow God’s lead.
The ritual aspects of Leviticus have been overturned. We no longer follow those rules in the Kingdom. But that has been replaced by the law of love. We still follow God’s lead in everything. Not because it makes sense, and not because we always understand. But rather because He is our Father, He is holy, and we need to be holy too.
8 And the Lord spoke to Aaron, saying, 9 “Drink no wine or strong drink, you or your sons with you, when you go into the tent of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. 10 You are to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean, 11 and you are to teach the people of Israel all the statutes that the Lord has spoken to them by Moses.”
There is the holy and the unholy, and there is the clean and the unclean. Leviticus will go on to talk about the holiness that God expects from His people, and there is a distinction between the moral holiness and the ritual holiness. A distinction of type, but not importance.
What is it that makes something clean? People have tried to see the patterns or the reasons behind God’s classification. The real reason something is unclean and needs to be avoided is because God says it is. There may indeed be other reasons God forbids certain foods or contact with illnesses, but the important thing to remember is that God’s people need to follow God’s lead.
The ritual aspects of Leviticus have been overturned. We no longer follow those rules in the Kingdom. But that has been replaced by the law of love. We still follow God’s lead in everything. Not because it makes sense, and not because we always understand. But rather because He is our Father, He is holy, and we need to be holy too.
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