This book will turn on a bright light as you see Leviticus with Christ at its center. If you are a pastor, teacher, or preacher, hundreds of diamonds await you to pick up and expound on them. To the young ministers in third world countries, this book was written specifically for you to open your eyes to the seed truths in Leviticus of Christ and their fulfillments in the New Testament. The greater knowledge you have of the Scriptures, the greater will you see in these snapshots. The author assumes your knowledge is wide and has made the subject quick and to the point, awaiting only your hand to expound on it for your hearers. You hold in your hand much of the results of my quest in searching for Christ in the Scriptures; His snapshots are in every book of the Bible, waiting for you to behold His face. And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. (Luke 24:27)
Henry Law was born at Kelshall rectory in Hertfordshire, 1797. Law was educated at Eton College and St John's College, Cambridge, where he became fellow in 1821. Later that year he was ordained. The Gospel In Leviticus is a message of meditation based on the Bible and written by Henry Law Dean of Gloucester in the eighteenth century and an influential figure in the evangelical party of the Church of England.
Moses' third book, the Book of Leviticus, is full of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the tabernacle we see Christ, in the priesthood we see Christ, in the sacrifices and the diverse offerings, our Saviour can be traced in type, picture, symbol and figure by all who have eyes to see. In this present work, our author, Pastor Don Fortner, is keen not to let pass unnoticed any opportunity to discover Christ. Herein lies the value and usefulness of this new work Discovering Christ in Leviticus. When the Master told His listeners they should 'search the scriptures', He was speaking of the Old Testament and said, 'they are they which testify of me'. Specifically, he declared, 'Moses ... wrote of me' and here in these twenty-seven chapters of Leviticus we rejoice to find confirmation of Jesus' statement as our Lord is portrayed to an eminent degree by His servant Moses. Leviticus contains very little by way of history and differs noticeably in this respect from Genesis and Exodus. Yet the Voice of Jehovah echoes and re-echoes throughout the book when clear commands and precise conditions for approaching God are set forth. Here God tells His people how and when and where He will meet with them. Men and women should take note of this. If we would know God we must come by the way He prescribes. God told Jeremiah, 'ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith the LORD'. Leviticus shows us how. God will be sought after by men but He shall be found only in the place He specifies, only by the way He determines and only through the blood of a perfect sacrifice. That sacrifice is His Son, Jesus Christ. Throughout Leviticus we are constantly reminded of this book's divine origin and authority. The LORD, the Living Word, frequently addresses His servant with the words, 'And the LORD called unto Moses, and spake unto him'. We see this in chapter one verse one, and in similar fashion some fifty more times. This is absolutely God's enduring word and while the sacrifices and rituals have long since ceased, the Truth behind the types is today as meaningful and important for a proper understanding of the Gospel as it was when it was first spoken. Last year shortly after completing this book Pastor Fortner passed into the presence of His Lord and Saviour. We are indebted to him for this labour of love on behalf of the church of Christ. It is also appropriate to acknowledge the contribution of his dear wife, Shelby, in its editing and checking. It is our prayer that the Lord use these pages from the pen of His faithful servant to encourage the Lord's sheep and challenge those yet outside of the fold of God. May our friend's burden to lift up his Saviour in the written and preached word continue to meet with success.
Without proper sacrifice, there can be no forgiveness, so where does that leave sinful man? He needs a sacrifice to remove his guilt, cleanse him from his defilements, and fit him for the holy presence of God. In the Old Testament, under Levitical law, it took five offerings—whole burnt, sin, trespass, peace, and meal—to properly portray the one offering of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. So what made these offerings significant? Drawing from the ancient pages of the Pentateuch, Evangelist Jimmy Swaggart unearths the true meaning under these five offerings that were instructed by God Himself to Moses—offerings that portrayed the perfection, the glory, and the power of Jesus Christ.
This commentary weaves together the interpretations of Christian exegetes, spanning the past two thousand years, who have concerned themselves with that most mysterious of texts, the book of Leviticus. Even when their commentaries seem most fanciful, the depths of meaning of the Hebrew text comes through in all its many and diverse translations and applications. What we discover is evidence of a biblical text at work in some of the most eloquent of spokespersons throughout the generations. The third book of the Bible is happily enjoying a resurgence of interest in Jewish and Christian quarters alike, being received as a book for the life of the faithful community. What is attempted here is the story of its Western-Christian reception.
