In Leviticus 19:2 The Lord spoke to Moses saying, “Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.”
87 times the word “holy” appears in the book but what does being “holy” mean? The word’s root in Hebrew speaks to being whole, complete, or perfect. I suggest to you that if you substitute the word “Whole” for the word “Holy” with regard to God’s declaration concerning Himself you gain a greater understanding of the word “holy”. “For I the Lord your God am Whole”, you see God is complete, He lacks nothing, needs nothing, He is perfect in every way. Ah but read carefully the first part of God’s words to the nation that He has just redeemed from bondage where He proclaims, “You shall be whole”. That suggests to us that they weren’t, that they weren’t whole, they weren’t functioning as they were originally designed.
In the words of the 1990’s “Life Alert” commercial God declares that mankind “Has fallen and they can’t get up”. Dear ones right here in Leviticus God is deciding to fix what is broken about mankind. As you go through these 27 chapters you will discover that God’s way to fix what is broken is twofold.
•Chp. 1-17 First Tells them that the only way we can become whole is if He does the work. We only become “whole” complete people through the provision of His sacrifice.
•Chp. 18-27 The second part of this involves the day to day walk in wholeness where we trust in His provision.
Isn’t it wonderful that God never tells us how we are to live whole before Him until He first has provided the means to do so?