In our world today we can see many differences around us. We don’t often recognize just how powerful our military is until its time for us to defend ourselves against foreign nations. We can fail to see just how democratic election system is until we see other countries that elect leaders only to have them deposed by the opposition. We may not appreciate the abundance of food in this country until we see how many people actual go to bed each night starving. However we can understand the superiority in these things just as God wants us to see His holiness and our need for it.
In a pew research study conducted June 8-18 and June 27 to July 9 found that many people in America said belief in God is not needed to be moral. In fact in this same study in 2011 42 percent who identify themselves as protestant evangelicals said belief in God is not needed to be moral and now in 2017 the number has now grown to 45 percent. If belief in God is not necessary to be moral what does that say about what we believe who God is?
On the grand stage of history God delivered Israel from the bondage of slavery from Egypt. Now that the Israelites have been delivered they are now in a new relationship with God. However their relationship with him must be developed and maintained. But how can that happen?
By the end of Exodus God has established his covenant with Israel. He has given them a means to worship him in the tabernacle. Now God established his means for Israel to worship Him and live among fellow believers. In order for Israel to have a right relationship with the Lord they must understand two fundamental beliefs: the seriousness of sin and the holiness of God.
In the book of Leviticus chapters one through three we see that God established a sacrificial system that provided Israel with a way to worship Him and have a right relationship with Him and other believers. Now in Leviticus God lays out just how Israel can develop and maintain this relationship. The entire animal sacrifice system foreshadows the work of Christ and the cross. This is accomplished by understanding the severity of sin and the holiness of God.
This sacrificial system allows us to see not only how God provided for the means of reconciliation. It demonstrates to us today for a need of a savior that God has provided in the work of Christ through our faith in him. When believers begin to understand God’s holiness our desire for a relationship with Him not only brings reconciliation but joy and peace for all eternity. It is in God’s holiness where we have true peace with God.
