Feasting on God's Word (One Year Bible)

Leviticus 16:1-34 Lord, we sing of Jesus, Your Son. He is "the man of sorrows" (Isaiah 53:3) - but this does not make us sad. We look beyond His suffering. We see our salvation. We sing of Your salvation. With joy, we sing to You - "Hallelujah! What a Saviour!" We look at Jesus - and we ask the question, "Full atonement - can it be?" We rejoice in Your answer - "Full atonement - Yes it is!" What a a perfect Saviour we have! What a great salvation He has given to us! Help us, Lord, to say, in our hearts, "God forbid that I should ever boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Galatians 6:14).

Leviticus 1:1-2:16 We thank You, Lord, that Your Son, Jesus, is "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). In His death for us, we see Your love for us. Help us to come to the Cross of Christ. Help us to worship You in the beauty of holiness. Help us to celebrate Your love in the spirit of thanksgiving.

Leviticus 3:1-4:35 We thank You, Lord, that "we have peace with You through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1). We thank You that "Jesus is our peace" (Ephesians 2:14). This peace is not something that comes from within ourselves. It comes to us from outside of ourselves. It comes from above. It comes to us from You. It's given to us. It's Your gift. We cannot give this gift to ourselves. We can only receive it by faith - faith in Jesus, our Saviour.

Leviticus 21:1-22:16 Teach us, Lord, that "every virtue we possess ... every victory won ... every thought of holiness are Yours alone." Virtue, victory, holiness - Where do these things come from? They come from You, Lord. "In ourselves, there is no good thing" (Romans 7:18) - Our lives have been spoiled by our sin. We thank You, Lord, that You haven't given up on us. You haven't dismissed us as a lost cause. You keep on working in us, changing us, making us more like Jesus.

Leviticus 18:24-19:37 Lord, You are the God of perfect holiness. You are the God of perfect love. You call us to a life of holiness. You call us to a life of love. How are to live this life of holiness and love? We need the Holy Spirit - the Spirit of love. Without Him, we cannot even begin to live this new life - the life of holiness and love. We thank You, Lord, that You have not left us to live this life in our own strength - "the Holy Spirit ... lives in us" (2 Timothy 1:14).

Leviticus 14:33-15:33 Lord, what are we to do about our sin? What can we do about it? It keeps on spreading. We can't do anything about this. It just gets worse and worse. What can be done about this? We can do nothing - but Jesus can do something about it. He's our Saviour. He comes to us in love. He comes to us in power. He forgives our sin. He gives us a new beginning. The past is put behind us. Jesus leads us on to Your eternal glory. Hallelujah! - "This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes" (Psalm 118:23).

Leviticus 11:1-47 Lord, we thank You that Your call to holiness begins with Your call to salvation. We're not left to go it alone. You come to us. You come as our Saviour. You take us as we are - but You don't leave us the way You found us. You start changing us. You have great plans for us. You're making us more like Your Son, Jesus. We trust Jesus. We receive His salvation. Help us to follow Him, to be changed by Him, to become more like Him.

Leviticus 8:1-36 Lord, You love us. You call us to love You. Help us, Lord, to grow in our love for You - to obey Your Word, to do Your will, to walk in Your way.

Leviticus 13:47-14:32 We thank You, Lord, that "the vilest offender , who truly believes, that moment, from Jesus, a pardon receives." By faith, we receive Your forgiveness - but we never earn Your forgiveness. Forgiveness is always Your gift. It's never a reward. By faith, we look away from ourselves. We look to Jesus, our Saviour. We do not say, "How great is my faith." We say, "How great is my Saviour."

Leviticus 7:1-38 When, Lord, we think of Jesus, crucified for us, may our hearts be filled with joyful praise and heartfelt thanksgiving.

Leviticus 5:1-7:38 In the descriptions of different offerings, we catch a glimpse of our need and Christ’s salvation. There is the “offering for sin” (Leviticus 5:6), the “fellowship offering of thanksgiving” (Leviticus 7:15), the “guilt offering” (Leviticus 7:34), the “ordination offering” (Leviticus 7:37). There is teaching here which we must build on in our understanding of our Christian experience. Christ died for our sins to remove our guilt and bring us into fellowship with God. Grateful to Him, we give ourselves to Him, confident that He has ordained that we should bear fruit for Him (1 Peter 3:18; John 15:16). All of this arises from the Old Testament details: – “the burnt offering, the grain offering” (Leviticus 7:37). We must always look beyond the Old Testament sacrifices to our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Leviticus 14:1-57 We read here of our need of cleansing and of the sacrifice of a lamb as a way of removing our guilt and bringing us into peace with God (Leviticus 14:21). Spiritually, we are “poor.” What we have to bring to God is not “that much.” It is not enough to provide for our cleansing. What we need has been provided for us – “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us what we could never do for ourselves – “There was no other good enough to pay the price of sin. He only could unlock the gate of heaven and let us in.” All glory to God!

Leviticus 24:1-23 If our light is to be keep on burning continually, we need pure oil (Leviticus 24:2). The emphasis here is on keeping close to God. It is only through closeness to God that our light will be kept burning. In Leviticus 24:15, we read, “Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin.” This is followed, in Leviticus 24:16, by some words of explanation of what bearing his sin meant: “He who blasphemes the Name shall be put to death.” As we read these words, our thoughts move to Christ, the sinless Saviour who bore the sins of many – “He died that we might be forgiven. He died to make us good, that we might go at last to heaven, saved by His precious blood.” Through Him, we are brought close to God. Through Him, we are darkness and into light.

Leviticus 22:1-23:44 Our careful obedience to God’s Word is not to be a purely legalistic thing. We must never forget that God is the God of redemption. Our holiness is grounded in Him: He is holy, and He sets us apart as holy (Leviticus 22:31-33). Holy living involves both worship and service. We are to worship God (Leviticus 23:1-4), but we must not forget the “poor people” (Leviticus 23:22).

The life of holiness is not an expression of our own moral virtue. It is an expression of the holy character of God being reproduced in us: ‘I am the Lord who sanctify you’ (Leviticus 20:8). God wants us for Himself – This is why we must not live the world’s way: ‘I the Lord am … holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine’ (Leviticus 20:26). God has a great purpose for us: ‘You shall inherit their land… I will give it to you, a land flowing with milk and honey’ (Leviticus 20:24).  ‘The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly… in Christ Jesus’ (1 Timothy 1:14). This is the pathway to holiness: ‘By grace you have been saved through faith… for good works’ (Ephesians 2:8-10).

Leviticus 4:1-35 The word, “blood, appears often here. We may note, in particular, the phrase, in Leviticus 4:25, “the blood of the offering for sin.” In the final verse (Leviticus 4:35), we may note why “the blood of the offering for sin” was shed – “forgiveness” and “peace with the Lord.” Reading about this, our thoughts turn towards Jesus Christ, our Saviour, who died that we might be forgiven. Out of love for us, He gave Himself for our sins so that we might have peace with God (Romans 5:8,1).

Leviticus 17:1-18:23 We thank You, Lord, that Your Son, Jesus, died - so that we might live. He was forsaken by You - so that we might live with You. We think of Jesus, suffering for us - "In my place, condemned, He stood." We think of the blessing that He brings to us: "Sealed my pardon with His blood." Here-and-now, there's a song of praise, arising in our hearts - but there's more than that: We look forward to the full glory of Your heavenly and eternal glory: "When He comes, our glorious King, all His ransomed home to bring, then anew this song we'll sing: Alleluia! What a Saviour!"

Leviticus 20:1-27 Lord, if we are to become holy, it must be Your doing - not our own achievement. We come to our Saviour with our sin. We receive from Him Your forgiveness - and the Spirit of holiness. Our past is put behind us. Our sins are forgiven - and forgotten. You call us on into Your future. We are being changed by Your love and Your holiness. We look back at all that You have done for us - and we say, "To God be the glory! Great things He has done." We look forward to all that You will do for us - and we say, 'To God be the glory! There is more to come  - "much more" (Romans 5:10). The best is yet to be! (1 Corinthians 2:9).'

Leviticus 17:1-18:30 Through the shed blood of Christ, we have peace with God and eternal life (Leviticus 17:11; Romans 5:1-2,8-10). We have received new life in Christ. Now, we are to leave our sinful past behind us. We are to live a new life as those who belong to Christ (Leviticus 18:1-5; Romans 6:12-14; Romans 12:1-2).

Leviticus 12:1-13:59 Again and again, we read the word, “clean.” Looking beyond the teaching “regarding health”, we may recall that “the blood of Jesus Christ – God’s Son – cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). This is the cleansing which everyone needs. No matter how healthy we may be in our bodies, we are spiritually diseased because of sin, and we need Christ’s cleansing.