40 Days of...dread?

Day 38

OT Reading: Leviticus 1-3

NT Reading: Matthew 24:23-51

I have to admit something. The next 40 days of reading are the ones I'm dreading the most. You see, I've made it this far before. I've read up to this point, going through Genesis and Exodus...but then have come to Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy and have gotten bogged down in all the details that I've never made it through this portion. This portion is actually the primary reason that I wanted to do a mixture of Old and New Testament readings each day.

Not that I want you to dread opening your Bible for the next 40 days. I'm just trying to be honest with my own feelings about the whole experience. But even as I began my reading today a particular verse stood out to me. Just a few verses into the book of Leviticus, when giving instructions about sacrifices, we read this:

If the offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he is to offer a male without defect. He must present it at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting so that it will be acceptable to the Lord. He is to lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him.

Leviticus 1:3-4 (NIV), emphasis mine

And that's when I was reminded of something I've said 1,000 times...but still end up forgetting a little too often. It's that the Bible is not ultimately about me. It is, however, about Jesus.

Here, centuries before Jesus is born in Bethlehem, God begins to teach that our sins do not go unnoticed, but instead require a payment. Here God begins to show that payment for sins cannot come directly through a flawed sinner, but must come indirectly through a perfect sacrifice. Here God begins to teach that only through sacrifice of one that is innocent, can the guilty come back into a right relationship with God. It's here, amidst the smattering of details and the seemingly repetitions commands, that we begin to learn about Jesus.

So why are these next 40 days important? What we'll be reading is important because ultimately it points us to Jesus. And that, my friends, is something to get excited about.