Ep 167: Loving Leviticus - And Why Most People Hate It (Part 2)

"Can you think of any Bible books you dislike or even hate reading? For many, it's Leviticus. Today, Pastor Dan Shunk continues the discussion about his new book, Loving Leviticus: And Why Most People Hate It."

Leviticus stops feeling random when we read it with Hebrews and let Jesus be the key that unlocks the offerings, the priesthood, and the tabernacle. We trace how “types and shadows” move from sin being covered to sin being removed, then land on a leprosy cleansing ritual that paints a surprising picture of resurrection.

• the burnt offering as total dedication to God
• the five offerings as facets of Christ’s one sacrifice
• sin covered under the old covenant versus propitiation at the cross
• Hebrews as the lens for understanding Leviticus
• Christ as greater priest than Aaron in the order of Melchizedek
• leprosy as the biblical picture of sin and discernment
• Leviticus 14 and the two birds as a resurrection portrait
• reading the Bible to find Jesus on every page
• Scripture over experience and “they have Moses and the prophets”

Just look on the show notes of this podcast, and you'll be able to pick up a Kindle copy or a hard copy.
To find out more, check out our website.

Please click on the underlined links throughout.

Dan's new Book: Loving Leviticus: And Why Most People Hate It

Dan's 1st book: Ezekiel's Clock: And The Key To Unlock The 430-Year Prophecy Of Modern Israel

Church Website: Calvary Chapel Chambersburg, PA

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Transcript

Christ Greater Than Old Covenant

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Lord, you know you're now listening to play is the best. That's it. Yeah, you'll all of a sudden you see the priesthood of Christ, you see the superiority of Christ over the tabernacle, over the sacrifices, over the priesthood. He is all one man. He is not only the priest, he's also the sacrifice that the priest gave. He's all of it. He is the one. They covered every aspect of the old testament rituals that they did in that tabernacle.

SPEAKER_03 1:01

Hello and welcome to Plays on the Word Radio. We discussed Play on the Word of God. Thank you for joining us on the experience today. Let's join Pastor Teddy, also known as Freddie David Kenny Jr., the founder of Plays on the Word Theater, as he does a deep dive into the Word of God.

SPEAKER_02 1:21

We're coming in, we're offering ourselves holy to God. Holy consumed, man. The whole thing consumed.

SPEAKER_01 1:28

That's right. And that's the the whole thing.

SPEAKER_02 1:31

There was no meat left over. It was the whole thing to God, man.

Covered Sin Versus Removed Sin

SPEAKER_01 1:36

Give it all or nothing, bro. And it's only after the burnt offering that you can have things like the grape offering and the peace offerings in which you're showing fellowship and real communion and peace with God. You can't have those unless you first have the burnt offering in which you're showing your dedication to God. So they all show a facet of what we now have in Christ once we've come to the cross and we've experienced forgiveness by what he did on the cross. And so, and that's just the first seven chapters of Leviticus. Yeah. Are these are these five main offerings?

SPEAKER_02 2:10

What I really like about um the type and shadow aspect is that in the old test the old testament sins were were covered, but they weren't they weren't propitiated, they weren't removed, they weren't expunged, they weren't like completely disintegrated. Whereas at the cross, he propitiated the wrath of the sin and and and and satisfied the wrath of God. Whereas the old testament, it's covered that the day of uh Yom Kippur is day of covering, it's a covering, man. Right. Okay, it's covered over. Yeah, but they're still kind of there. But Jesus takes our sin as far as the east is from the west. That's why he is greater than any of the Levitical priesthood. He is greater, the book of Hebrews, he's greater than the temple, he's greater than Moses, he is greater than drop the mic.

Reading Hebrews With Leviticus

SPEAKER_01 3:05

That's the book of Hebrews. Yeah, exactly. And we actually get into that in chapter four of the book, in which it's talk so much about how through the high priestly system of the old testament, but no, no, no, Christ is the ultimate high priest, and he's so much better than the priest of the old testament. They role modeled what it was to be this mediator between God and man, right? But they but they always died, yeah. They had to have their own sin atoned for before they could atone for the sin of anyone else, and yet, you know, in the new testament, then we get to we get to the scripture in which it tells us that Christ ever liveth to make intercession for us, and that alone that he ever liveth, that alone tells us that there's no more need for any sacrifice because his sacrifice still stands and it will stand forever because he ever liveth. Amen. Amen to that. He will never die, he will never stop interceding about his blood on our behalf.

SPEAKER_02 4:06

Yeah, it's eternal. And I think our uh at Calvary Southport, we're doing a uh we're doing a nine-week study. We're we're coming up on week seven. It's called GPS to the messiah, and we've been going through the old testament as if we had a GPS uh app on our phone, and it we started out in Genesis 315 and and and made our way through the prophecies and then the types and shadows.

SPEAKER_01 4:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:32

And one of the one of the things we looked at last week was how Christ is a greater priest than Aaron, is a greater mediator. Uh, he's in the order of Melchizedek, he's not from Aaron. In fact, Aaron paid tithes to Melchizedek in a sense through Abraham. That's right. When what do you you know? Uh the book of Hebrews really meant you really should read Hebrews with Leviticus. Because if you read Leviticus and Hebrews together, you're gonna go, Oh, I got my lens now. This is the lens, it makes sense. Whoa, you know, that's it.

SPEAKER_01 5:07

Yeah, you'll all of a sudden you see the priesthood of Christ, you see the superiority of Christ over the tabernacle, over the sacrifices, over the priesthood. Yeah, he is all you know, one man, he is not only the priest, he's also the sacrifice that the priest gave. Yeah, right. Right? He he's all of it, yeah. He is the one that covers every aspect of the old testament rituals that they did in that tabernacle.

SPEAKER_02 5:33

He's both he's both of the animals in the on Yom Kippur in Leviticus 16. Right, he's both. He's the one who takes the sin out away from the camp, but he's also the one that dies. Exactly. It's yeah, he's and it makes sense because he's so spectacular, one offering can't cover all that he does. You need multiple types of offerings to deal with the multifaceted impact. I love that of his one sacrifice. Hebrews again, Hebrews 10. Uh, by his one sacrifice, he has perfected those for all eternity that are that are being sanctified. He is um that one sacrifice, man. Like you said, it's a diamond. You start looking at it. Wait a second. Oh, there's whoa, whoa, whoa, there's all kinds of angles that whoa, I didn't even see that. Look no matter how you look at it, you it's almost infinite. I want to say it's almost infinite. The the level of detail that the Lord has put in this in what he did, and it's that's why when people dismiss the cross, man, I'm just like, Oh, you you have no idea, man. What like everything, all history is graded on the cross. You know, the cross is at the center of all history. We look back, and Abraham and them dudes looked forward, but either way, the cross, man, that is that's the defining moment of all time. That's right, and the resurrection, which is part of that, but the fact is the sacrifice, man.

Leprosy As A Picture Of Sin

SPEAKER_01 7:10

Wow. Well, and and you're so that's the bridge right here that we're getting to here. Leviticus first establishes the the multifaceted uh impact. I love that word used of what the the singular event of the cross was that Christ did for us. So Leviticus first details out all of this multifaceted angles to everything that the cross means, right? And then after it does that, then it says in the book of Leviticus, okay, here's how it applies to you. Here's how it now affects the human race and people. We get in in chapter five of the book. It's it's to me some of the most fascinating stuff, and it it gives these chapters early on there. I think it's chapter um 13 and 14 of Leviticus, where it it starts to deal with the cleansing of leprosy.

SPEAKER_02 7:55

Yes, yeah. I was gonna ask you about that.

SPEAKER_01 7:57

Oh, it's some of the most fascinating things. You know, sometimes people uh they have a hard time seeing, for instance, the resurrection of Christ in the Old Testament, and they'll say, Well, where's the resurrection in the old testament? Well, you know, they say that was prophesied in the old testament. Well, I don't see it. Where is it? And and of course, the Lord Himself pointed us to the account of Jonah and what happened to Jonah that three days and three nights I'll be just as he was in the heart of the the fish for three days and three nights, so I will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. And and clearly the insinuation there is something happens at the end of three nights, yeah. But it there's so much more in the old testament for resurrection, time doesn't allow us to go into Abraham and Isaac and how Abraham could considered for three days his son dead until he saw what the Lord was going to do, and and then in Abraham's eyes, after three days, uh he his son was alive again. But there is this picture in Leviticus 13 and 14 of the cleansing of leprosy and the ritual for the cleansing of leprosy that if if people if some of your listeners have never heard uh what is called out for that ritual, it'll blow your mind. And of course, you know, leprosy is was an incurable disease, uh, called Hanscomb's disease today, and it is the biblical picture of sin itself.

SPEAKER_02 9:17

Sin, yeah, it's sin, it's a scourge, man.

SPEAKER_01 9:19

Yeah, and so many details there in Leviticus 13 and 14 with the different ways you uh you can identify sin so that you can know if it is or isn't sin. And that all of those details are there, and I won't get into all of that right now, but the that is what's so fascinating is we can and we do, and and we don't want to do that at this moment, but everybody should get into these details. Once you get this big picture of whoa, Leviticus shows me leprosy is sin. Okay, when I know that, let me see all of these details. For it says, Well, if the if the leprosy shows up this way or this way or here's how you deal with it. Or, well, if if the leprosy is only this, well, it's not actually leprosy, it's only a scab. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's a picture of well, maybe sin, you know, tempted you, but it was just a temptation, and you're out, you leave. You know, it's not sin at all, it just came across you tempted you, and now you're you're gonna move on. But the most fascinating thing of that whole section there with the cleansing of leprosy is the scripture gives us there in Leviticus 14 the ritual that the priests are supposed to do if leprosy is cleanse. Did I mention it's an incurable disease? Yeah, yeah. Right. So here's this ritual buried in Leviticus 14 that the priest is supposed to perform if somebody comes to them and says, I've been cured of the incurable. And you know, if we all if we already understand that leprosy is a picture of sin, what we're saying is this priest is supposed to perform a ritual to commemorate the cleansing of sin. But and we know that only happens on the cross. But what is this ritual that the priest is supposed to perform? Well, you read Leviticus 14, and the priest is supposed to get a bunch of supplies and perform a physical ritual. And you know what? Before I even tell you say more about what that's all about, do you remember that time in the New Testament that Christ healed some lepers? One of the few times in history that some lepers and Christ looks at the man and he says, Go show yourself to the priest. Can you imagine I mean, can you imagine that guy showing up to the priest? And um, the priest is thinking, You've been cured of what you're you're asking me to do what? Yeah, you know, he uh that priest that would have never previously ever done that ritual to have uh you know the ceremony for after a leper has been cleansed, and here he's being told to you know to uh do this ritual. I'm sure he he probably looked at that cleanse leper and he probably said, uh yes, cleanse leprosy, yes. Wait right here, please. Let me go, you know, and he probably I can pick up going to the back and finding another priest, you know, older that's been around a while. So hey, there's a guy out here saying he's been cured of leprosy, and he's telling me I should do the ritual. What are what's he talking about? Like they because they've never heard of it, they never had to do this one.

SPEAKER_02 12:16

If it if they could have, if it would have worked, they would have done it on Uziah, but it they died, he died a leper, and and all the high priests and everybody, all the priests were right there when it broke out on them, man.

Two Birds Ritual And Resurrection

SPEAKER_01 12:29

You know, so yeah, he wasn't healed. Nope. Yeah, and and to be clear, the the the ritual itself there described in Luke chapter five, it's it's not uh a ritual to cleanse the leprosy, that's where Christ cleansed them, and he told them, Go show yourself to the priest. So that the ritual is what a uh is it's not for cleansing the leper, it's for a celebration. Yeah, the leper's been cleansed. Yeah, and so this you got a picture, you know, this leper showing up to the priest. The priest has to go get other priestly help. Like, what's the I've never done that ritual? They finally get out Leviticus 14, and they're like, Oh, yeah, here it is, it's in Leviticus 14. This is a uh ritual we're supposed to perform, and so the ritual itself, they're supposed to grab cedar wood, yeah. Cedar wood, some hyssop, right? Right, those are little red flags because that happens throughout the scriptures. Like, wait, what? Right, you know, if we already understand it, we're talking about a physical ritual that's supposed to represent something spiritual. I think your listeners are already picking up that we're cedar wood. Well, that's gotta be the cross. You know, the scarlet is that is that red, it's that blood, it represents the blood. Yep, and it needs to get hyssop is a bushies, uh bushy item that's used to take and dip it in the blood and apply the blood. It's the method of applying it.

SPEAKER_02 13:49

That's what they're doing we're supposed to apply with with at the Passover hyssop to paint the uh right, the doorpost, the door post, and of course, they put the sponge of sour vigor on hyssop, right? And gave it to Jesus. It's so the scarlet thread of redemption moves throughout the scriptures, and in Leviticus, you man, you you see it, bro. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:13

Well, so that here's this priest getting the scarlet and cedar wood and hyssop. And they're what they're supposed to do then is get two birds, yes. And I don't think I don't want to give away the punchline to the ritual yet, but you know, they have to have two birds, not just one. So they take a bird and they're trying to to put this bird in an earthen vessel or a clay pot. And so uh you're you're already getting the idea that you have this, it's not a it's not an animal on the ground, it's a bird, as in a bird from heaven, you know, the divine from heaven. It's a picture of Christ Himself, this bird being put in a clay pot. Well, that's that's when Jesus came and he was incarnated here on earth, put he put on a body, yeah, to become like you and I. So the bird from heaven is put in a clay pot, then he's killed in the clay pot with the scarlet and the cedar wood and the hyssop, and they're supposed to mix that all around, killing that bird. And then, and I'll just give away the punchline a little bit, and because you cannot resurrect a bird, then take the other bird that's alive, and they sort of mix it in there just to identify it with the other bird, and now it's it's seen as as one image, and then they take that living bird and set it free into the open, they let it go. And what a glorious picture of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and there it is right there in Leviticus, right? Streaming for the whole world to see that the cleansing of sin is the res by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_02 15:43

When you see that through through that lens, it's like, wow, man, you can't help. I remember Hooten and Holland reading Leviticus one time, like, I this is amazing. Yeah, because it's like, wait a second, this is about Christ, man. And he said that in John 5 39. You know, you so you diligently search the scriptures. He says that to the religious leaders, you you guys, you you search the scriptures because you think in them that you're gonna have eternal life. You don't realize that. Testify of me, right? Every aspect of the scriptures testifies of Jesus in one way or another. It's it's and that I think it's our goal as believers to not read into the scripture. We want to exegete, not isegete, we want to exegete Jesus to find Christ in the scripture. That is the that is the the charge for every believer. When we find Christ in the scripture, man, your spirit, if you're a born-again believer, your spirit, you can't help but be excited, man. Yeah, you can't you can't help but go, oh, oh, hallelujah, that's what I'm talking about right there.

Seeing Jesus On Every Page

SPEAKER_01 16:45

I'm feeling that. Yeah, and you know, I I want to say something kind of kind of interesting here. It's not that, you know, oh well, you're these types of Christians that find Jesus everywhere in the old testament. Well, uh, like you just said, you know, from from the the passage you just quoted, this was God's intended design for us to be able to come to the scriptures and see Jesus Christ all through them from beginning to end. You remember that account on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24, where Christ kind of pulls up on those two guys and doesn't reveal to them right off that it's him, that he's been resurrected from the dead, and they can't understand why Christ was crucified and how he's gone, and they don't even yet understand that he was resurrected. And and it says there in Luke 24, verse 27, that after as Christ finally wanted to begin to reveal to them, hey, it's me, and these things about Christ's death and resurrection, these things were supposed to happen. There's that verse there in Luke 24 that says, And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. Yeah, um, my point is this was always God's intention to make every book of the scriptures to make it all centered on Jesus Christ.

Experiences Versus Scripture Authority

SPEAKER_02 17:59

I used to think that that was I used to say long time ago, I used to say, Oh, I wish I could just be a fly on the wall as they walked along. Not that there would be a wall there, but you know, be a fly listening in on that conversation as he expounded the scripture. And the the Lord put on my heart, shared with me, said you have the Holy Spirit and this and the word of God. You have the you you don't have to think that that's some special Bible study you missed out on. Here, let me let me take you through it, man. Let me show you. And he he gives he'll give it to you. He's not trying to hide it from any believer. And so I used to be envious of Cleopas and either his wife or whoever that was, the other disciple. And I used to be envious, man, like, oh man, I wish I could have been there for that. But guess what? When we open the pages of scripture, we we have the opportunity to partake in uh in an even greater study than what they had, because we have the lens of the New Testament complete to look through to focus this stuff for us, man.

Book Recommendation And Next Steps

SPEAKER_01 19:06

Like, whoa, man, it makes sense. Right. And you know what's so fascinating is I think so many people in today's culture and and even in Christian culture, we're getting distracted with experiential things and they want to have an experience, whether that's some, you know, some emotional experience in a church service, or if they want to have, you know, just the imagery all around them to have an emotional reaction. Uh, you know, people there are some people that they feel let down if they don't have a specific individual feeling from the Lord at any given time. But it reminds me though, of Luke 16, in which, you know, uh Lazarus and the rich man, right? And they they both die and they go uh into eternity. And the rich man in hell, he calls out and he says to Abraham, you know, listen, I now that I'm in hell, I uh I recognize I need somebody to talk to my brothers back on earth, they're in a heap of trouble, they're unbelievers like he was. He's concerned about his brothers back on earth, and he asks uh Abraham to send help to them. Hey, listen, you know, let somebody go back to them from the dead. And the the response comes and says, even if somebody would rise from the dead, even if they had the ultimate of experiences to have a visit from somebody that came back from the dead, they wouldn't believe. And then it goes on to say, they have Moses and the prophets, which is of course a way of talking about our whole testament, and it says, They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. Eternal life, Jesus Christ is all through the scriptures. If we would but dig in to find it and to see Jesus on every page of the scriptures, and specifically Leviticus.

SPEAKER_02 20:51

Amen to amen to that, man. I I I encourage everybody here, man. If anybody listening, pick this book up. It's it's not expensive and it's not super long, and it will change your life. I guarantee you read this book, it will uh it'll change the way you look at and see uh Leviticus and others. So we're um you know, we're we're absolutely blessed to to have you, man, on this uh this version of of the podcast. Um when are we gonna when we're gonna meet up again, man? We need to bring Pete back to uh your new building, man.

SPEAKER_01 21:27

Oh, let's do it. Yeah, the Lord graciously gave us a new property uh last year, yeah, just in 2025. And uh we're we'd be glad to have you anytime.

SPEAKER_02 21:35

So we're gonna work out. We're gonna we're gonna set that up, man, because it's been a few years since we've been been out there and and done a play for you guys. And um, I think you'll uh you'll appreciate you know what's going on. And I'm gonna I'll send you the GPS to the Messiah stuff we've been working on. I think you'll get a kick out of that. Yes, please. 'Cause it it dovetails perfectly to what we're what we're um what we're studying right now, what we're talking about. So You know, the uh loving Leviticus and why most people hate it. You just go to Amazon. Where the link will be in the show show notes. You don't even have to search for it. Just look on the show notes of this podcast, and you'll be able to pick up a Kindle copy or a hard copy. And um maybe we'll maybe we'll get Dan to sign a couple hard copies and we'll jack up the price on it or something and make it a special special raffle. Please on word raffle or something. Can you give us a couple can you get us a couple signed copies, man?

SPEAKER_01 22:35

I think I'd probably de-value them.

SPEAKER_02 22:38

A special giveaway. But uh just one last question now that I'm thinking about it. If you got into an elevator and some people were in the elevator and and you overheard their conversation, they were saying, Man, I wish uh I wish I could understand Leviticus. Um, like your your elevator pitch, what would you what would you tell them about your book? Something you might want people to know about your book that maybe we haven't covered.

SPEAKER_01 23:00

Yeah, well, honestly, I I I typically like to give people that information there about the cleansing of leprosy, and just to show them one full example of the cleansing of leprosy and how because that's one of the easier ones to see once you know what you're looking for. Yeah, that's the resurrection of Christ. There it is. But you know what? I want people to understand is it's really chapter one, it's chapter two of the book, which is this if you try to if you try to crack the Bible and you're just thinking, Lord, fix me, I I want changed, and that's the only thing you think of. So much of the scripture and our reading of it is going to be out of focus because it's not all about me, yeah, it's all about Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. And that's what the Bible is all about. And we wrote this to try to help people understand that when we make him the king of the universe, when we put him on the throne of our life and on the throne of our understanding, it all comes clear. And so don't give up on reading the scriptures, just simply come to the scriptures and say, Lord, show me Jesus, and and it all comes clear.

Closing Prayer And Supporters

SPEAKER_02 24:04

Can you close us in prayer, bro, for this uh this episode and maybe just pray for anybody who has been struggling trying to read through the scriptures?

SPEAKER_01 24:13

Yeah, absolutely. Father in heaven, we we come to you again today, Lord. We lift you up. We're here to exalt your name. Lord, we we know there are there are people that have struggled uh in in uh the looking at your word, the reading of your word. Um, but Lord, it's you delight when we dig in, uh when we dive in to find the mysteries that you've got hidden right in there. Uh, in a way, Lord, you have concealed your word on purpose and in a sense so that those that um do not have a heart for you, Lord, will never find it. But Lord, for all of us that have that desire that we've been born again, Lord, we want to know you. It's just there. All of it is right there, just below the surface. And you delight when we dig in to learn these things. Lord, I pray that you'd help many today uh have that shift in their thinking and in in such a way that they now understand that every stitch of what you've given to us is centered on your son. It's all about Jesus Christ, Lord. Help us to see that. And Lord, as we do, everything comes clear, Lord. When we try to center this Bible and its reading on ourselves, it'll fall apart. Lord, if we try to center it on our churches and on our nations, Lord, it falls apart. But Lord, when we center our reading and our learning on you, it comes into focus and it comes clear. Lord, help us to see you on every page of what you've written, Lord. You're the center of the universe, you're worthy of it all. Who is this king of glory? What does this mean? And what is his son's name? Tell me if you can. Yeah. Writer of Proverbs says, we now we know your name. Yeah. You are Jesus, our Christ, our God, our savior. Lord, open up the eyes of our understandings to what you've written so long ago in ritual to help us to see the depth of what you've done for us on the cross and beyond. Lord, in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

SPEAKER_02 26:08

Amen. Amen. Amen to that.

SPEAKER_03 26:21

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