In these two chapters, the strict holiness regulations are set down for the priests. I am struck especially by the regulations in chapter 22 concerning touching people who are unclean and thus being rendered unclean oneself. I immediately thought of Jesus and the numerous times we hear of his touching people who are unclean (lepers most notably). He seems to have had no concern about being rendered unclean himself. But the Leviticus passages themselves suggest the explanation for this lack of concern on Jesus’ part. These two chapters are filled with the refrain, “I am the Lord your God who makes you holy.” Jesus is our Lord and our God. He is the very source of holiness. So utter is his holiness that it overwhelms the uncleanness and renders it cleansed.
“The happiest state of a Christian is the holiest state. As there is most heat nearest the sun, so there is most happiness nearest to Christ.”
C. H. Spurgeon
© 2010 Gary A. Chorpenning
Gary Chorpenning's Notebooks 