The Weight of Glory

I am very aware of the work by C.S. Lewis of this title, but it is also the only phrase that can capture my heart towards the book of Leviticus.

To those who live ignorant of a covenant relationship with Jesus, Leviticus is a crazy book, full of rules, regulations and instructions. But for the redeemed, for the blood bought sinners who know the Man who tore the temple's curtain in two, this is a book of gratitude, a book of hope, a book that reveals Jesus as the great high priest who gives us full and unfettered access to God, 24/7. Whereas once a year, Aaron would purify himself, offer atoning sacrifices, and enter into the holy of holies, the Christian today enters into God's presence anytime, any place. That's a weight of glory if I've ever heard one.

Or consider this: all these rules aren't an instruction manual for earning salvation or becoming worthy of the love of God, they're a response to the fact that God has already loved us and a reflection of our status as His people. This is something seen again and again: God rescues, He gives life, and He tells us how to live that life for His glory and our joy in Him.

performing what the Lord has charged, so that you do not die! 8.35

For I am the Lord your God who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy. 11.45

Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves any Gods of cast metal: I am the Lord your God. 19.4

Keep my statutes and do them; I am the Lord who sanctifies you. 20.8 

So you shall keep my commandments and do them: I am the Lord. And you shall not profane my holy name, that I may be sanctified among the people of Israel. I am the Lord who sanctifies you, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am the Lord. 22.31-33

Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified. 10.3 

I am the Lord your God. You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person, he shall live by them. 18.4-5 

Therefore you shall do my statutes and keep my rules and perform them, and then you will dwell in the land securely. The land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill and dwell in it securely. 25:18-19 

For I am the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy. 11.45 

Reading the law really helps me see how God uses all things for our good, and His discipline of those whom He loves. He points us along the paths of righteousness to show the world who He is. It's not about us. It's about Jesus. This book is a reflection of Himself. We are to be a reflection of Himself. Everything He tells us is to make us like Him and to see His glory and be changed by it. Reading this book is, to me, drinking deeply from the fountain of God's grace. I mean, look at this promise:

I will give peace in the land and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid 26.6 

I memorized these verses this week:

I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you and will be your God and you shall be my people. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect. 26.11-13

There's a lot here. There's the fact that we get the presence of our holy God and that His wrath turns away from us. There's the fact that He stays with us and gives us Himself and makes us His own. And He rescued us from slavery in order to do all these things. But what's been driving me wild is the fact that it doesn't say "their yoke". It says "your yoke". We were "their slaves" but it's our yoke. And it's like what I talked about with Exodus - you don't have to be someone's slave in order to to have a yoke around your neck. God literally set the Israelites free from slavery. But by making them His people and Himself their God, He also set them free from themselves. From idol worship. And this is the same work He's doing in His people today, the work that will continue on until we reach glory, until we see him fact to face.

I pray that every Christian could approach the book of Leviticus with a soft heart and an awareness of who God is and what He has already done in the person of Jesus Christ. I pray that we would see His discipline, His sanctification and the beautiful means of grace that it is. I pray that we would read this book and feel the weight of glory.

“To please God… to be a real ingredient in the divine happiness… to be loved by God, not merely pitied, but delighted in as an artist delights in his work or a father in a son- it seems impossible, a weight or burden of glory which our thoughts can hardly sustain. But so it is.”  C.S. Lewis