“Love your neighbour as yourself” did you know these words were mentioned in Leviticus 19:18? 
A lot of people quote these words because we know Jesus said them in Matthew 5, but how many go on to read beyond that one line to what he said?
‘You have heard that it has been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thing enemy, But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you, That you may be the children of your Father which is in heaven’ (5:43-45). 
My mother always used to say ‘by their fruit you will know them’… in other words, when people hate, carry unforgiveness, are mean with their words, carry malice, rage…. Those kinds of things, their Father is not God.
And here in Leviticus we have statement after statement, despite it being laid out as it was for them in those days, these things show that God loved those people, and he wanted the best for them.
From Leviticus 13
Leviticus 13, 14, 15 are basically concepts on healthcare and sanitation, cleanliness and uncleanliness.
By the time you get to Leviticus 16 you’re discovering the idea of the scapegoat – the one that Aaron would lay his hands on the head of the live goat and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel.
Sound familiar?
Lev 17:7 God is saying to these people, the ones he is claiming as his own, you shall NO MORE offer their sacrifices unto devils….’
Fascinating. So, they were still messing about with other cultures, other spiritual practices, other gods…
Is it any different today? People have statues in their homes, incense or crystals, they practice their meditations, yoga’s and visit temples or read their horoscopes. Playing with these things as if it doesn’t matter. 
Leviticus 18 God tells them straight ‘I am the Lord your God, after the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein you dwell, shall you not do; and after the doings of the land of Canaan where I bring you, shall you not do; neither shall you walk in their ordinations. You shall do MY JUDGEMENTS’
It goes on to deal with ‘Molech’, which is basically the worship of Satan, where people were pretty much offering their children as a sacrifice. This stuff is still happening today. Molech is alive and well in Western culture, and in all parts of the world. This is where the defilement action is, and where ‘the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants’.
Consistent Themes Keep Cropping up in Leviticus
There is a consistent theme about being separated to be God’s people.
It reminds me of Jesus saying you’re in the world but not of the world, or words to that effect.
Leviticus 17 is really about blood.
v’ 11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood’…
V 14 ‘For it is the life of all flesh, the blood of it is for the life thereof; there I said, you shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh, for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof; whosoever eats it shall be cut off….’
We all know that getting into Leviticus and Deuteronomy can be tough going.
All the elements of the laws, dos and don’ts, You can see why God actually does not want us in the law anymore. According to Paul the law is dead, and life is ‘if any man believe that Jesus is the Christ, and that God raised him from the dead…’
But what I can see is God was giving his people information, tools, guidelines to survive as a nation. They were now out of one space and living in the desert. They needed to know how to survive. How to relate to God because He was their God, He was taking them somewhere.
Everything he is telling them here is for their good. But now we have the Holy Spirit, and the scriptures tells us these laws are written into our heart.
This gospel is so beautiful. God is so wonderful. It’s so amazing he loves us even though we make so many mistakes. And yet he is looking for those that will walk in his standards because that’s where the real blessing is poured out. 
