Beloved in Christ, On the eighth day —the dawn of a new beginning –Moses gathers Aaron, his sons, and Israel’s elders (vv. 1, 5). The air hums with holy anticipation: Today, Yahweh will appear  (v. 4, 6). Before them lie three offerings:  1. Sin Offering  (v. 2-3, 8-11); Atonement for guilt 2. Burnt Offering  (v. 2-3, 12-14); Total surrender to God   3. Peace Offering  (v. 4, 18-21); Communion restored Every ritual points beyond itself to Christ. The “male without defect”  (v. 2-3) is Jesus —the flawless Lamb who walked our dusty roads, faced Herod and Pilate, and bore His cross to Golgotha. His sacrifice fulfills all:  > First, “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins”  (1 John 2:2);  Our Sin Offering > Second, “Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us”  (Ephesians 5:2);  Our Burnt Offering    > Third,   “He Himself is our peace”  (Ephesians 2:14);  Our Peace ...

John MacArthur’s last sermon is not with words, but with his life. Now, with tubes in his lungs and the weight of pneumonia pressing down, John MacArthur may be nearing the end of his earthly race. We are not ready. We are not ready for men like him to go silent. You don’t have to agree with everything he said to know what he stood for. He stood for Scripture. For truth spoken like thunder…clear, costly, and close. For pulpits that didn’t wink at sin or bow to trends. He preached judgment. He preached grace. He kept preaching when others padded their stage lights and softened their sermons. He stayed when others sold out. Now the voice that taught us to tremble at the text is whispering in a hospital room. Maybe it has already stopped. The Shepherd Knows the Valley We like to think we’re immortal. We numb ourselves with noise, pretending death isn’t pacing the hallway. But not MacArthur. He never pretended death was anything other than what it is…a judgment, a sentence, a recko...

Beloved in Christ, Leviticus 8 unfolds God’s sacred recipe for consecrating priests —a breathtaking foreshadowing of your identity in Christ. Every detail whispers our redemption:  1. The Divine Summons (v.1-5) “Take Aaron, his sons...”  —God initiates the call. Before Moses gathers garments, oil, or offerings, the Sovereign speaks. So too with us: “You did not choose me, but I chose you”  (John 15:16). Whether you feel unworthy or unprepared, His call clothes you with purpose.  2. The Waters of Regeneration (v.6) The washing wasn’t mere ritual —it was death to defilement. Aaron’s bath foreshadows our rebirth: “He saved us through the washing of regeneration”  (Titus 3:5). If you’re trapped in sin’s filth, Christ’s living water awaits —not to scrub surfaces but to resurrect dead souls (John 4:14).  3. The Garments of Grace (v.7-9) Observe the order: Cleansed before clothed . God never dresses dirty priests. So with us: Justified then  robed in Ch...

Beloved in Christ, Leviticus 7 unveils the guilt offering  as “most holy” (v.1) —a sacred echo of our Savior’s supreme sacrifice. Just as the spotless animal bore the sinner’s guilt, Christ —the sinless Lamb — “became sin for us”  (2 Corinthians 5:21). When you read verse 1, see JESUS: the only offering whose holiness could absorb our defilement.    The slaughter at the altar (v.2) paints Golgotha’s portrait:  > “There the guilt was slain, > Blood spilled on cursed ground, > While heaven’s own Priest > Sprinkled eternal redemption ‘round.” Every detail proclaims Him:  -  1.  The burnt entrails  (v.3-5) — Christ’s total consecration   2. The priest’s portion  (v.7-8) — Our surrendered identity  Ah! This last point ignites holy fire: “The priest who makes atonement shall have it”  (v.7). Just as the offering became the priest’s possession, we whom Christ has atoned for now belong wholly to H...

Beloved in Christ, These chapters reveal sin’s pervasive grip —from hidden failures to defiant rebellion —and God’s stunning provision for both. When we “bear guilt”  (5:1), it’s not merely about acts but the heart’s posture:  suppressing truth (v.1), careless words (v.4), or touching what defiles (v.2). The “unclean things”  weren’t just physical; they symbolized moral contamination. Like Eve who saw  before she touched  (Genesis 3:6), we’re warned: what we entertain eventually enslaves us. For us in Christ, this means actively guarding our hearts (Proverbs 4:23) and practicing “pure religion”  —keeping ourselves “unstained by the world”  (James 1:27).  Three Liberating Truths: 1. Conviction is Mercy    When the Spirit reveals sin —whether hidden (5:2-4) or known (5:1) —it’s grace calling us home (John 16:8). That guilt? It’s not condemnation for believers (Romans 8:1), but surgery to heal. As David learned, unconfessed sin festers;...

  Dear Beloved in Christ,   Before we enter chapter 4, a brief word on Leviticus 3: The peace (or fellowship) offering beautifully foreshadows our reconciliation with God through Christ. As Romans 5:1 declares, “Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God.”  Jesus — the flawless sacrifice (whether male or female, as in Leviticus 3) — restored our broken fellowship, calling us to “walk in the light”  (1 John 1:7) in communion with Him and one another. The laying on of hands, the blood sprinkled by Aaron’s sons — all whisper of Calvary’s greater work. Now to Leviticus 4: Here, God makes stunning provision for unintentional sins   — those hidden faults and unknown transgressions (Psalm 19:12).   This is grace in the wilderness! Notice three profound truths:  1. No One Is Exempt    Even the anointed priest  could sin (v. 3). This shatters all illusions of human perfection. “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves” ...

  Dear Beloved in Christ,   As we step into the grain offering’s sacred rhythm, we find worship distilled to its essence: fine flour mingled with oil and frankincense  (v. 1). This is no mere ritual – it’s a love language between God and His people.  The fine flour, ground to silken purity (no guilt, no impurity), whispers of Christ — the unblemished; the flawless, unleavened  “Bread of Life”  (John 6:35), wholly without sin who entered our brokenness to make us whole.  The oil, glistening through the flour, speaks of the Spirit’s anointing, light and life — Christ Himself softening our hardened places, igniting His radiance within us until we shine like beacons in the dark world.  And the frankincense? Its resinous perfume, rising in smoke from the altar, becomes our prayers carried heavenward by Jesus, our Eternal Intercessor (Romans 8:34), whose very presence makes our lives “a pleasing aroma”  to the Father (Ephesians 5:2).  Whe...

Dear Brethren in Christ,  As we open Leviticus—the third book of Scripture—we step into a conversation already in progress. The opening word “Then”  (v. 1) immediately connects us to Exodus, where God spoke to Moses from the newly constructed Tent of Meeting. Here, the Lord establishes the sacred pattern for offerings, revealing a timeless truth: God receives only what He designates.  Just as Israel needed specific sacrifices to approach Him, we too must grasp what makes worship “an offering by fire, a soothing aroma to the Lord”  (v. 9, 13, 17).  The burnt offering provides profound principles for God-honoring worship. First, the sacrifice must be “a male without defect”  (v. 3)—pointing to Christ, the flawless Lamb (1 Peter 1:19). For us, this signifies lives offered to God in holiness, unpolluted by the world (Romans 12:1). Second, the offering occurs exclusively “at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting”  (v. 3)—foreshadowing Jesus as “the Way” ...