Leviticus

Leviticus 18: Walk in the LORD's statutes

Begin in prayer

Before we read Leviticus 18, where the LORD commands His people not to follow the evil customs of Egypt and Canaan, let us bow our heads. Ask God to give us pure hearts that trust in Jesus and honor His design for the home.

Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it is the wellspring of life.

Proverbs 4:23

Father in heaven, please open our eyes as we read Your Word. Show us that You are the LORD our God, and help us turn away from the sinful ways of the world and trust in Jesus to make us clean. Make us more like Jesus. And please bless our family as we worship You together. In Jesus' name, Amen.

See where we're going

In Leviticus 18 the LORD declares to Israel, I am the LORD your God. He commands them not to copy the practices of Egypt or Canaan, where He is bringing them, but to walk in His statutes. Next, in verses 6 to 18, God protects the family by forbidding anyone to approach close relatives in marriage or impurity. In verses 19 to 23 He forbids adultery, giving children to the false god Molech, and other sins against His created order. Finally, the LORD warns that these abominations defiled the land of Canaan so that the land vomited out its inhabitants. Israel and the foreigner alike must keep God's charge and not defile themselves.

As you read Leviticus 18, look for the answers:

Reflect together

Key truth

The holy LORD guards marriage and the home with His good laws, and sets His people apart.

Six times in Leviticus 18 God stamps His name upon His commands, “I am Yahweh” (verses 2, 4, 5, 6, 21 and 30). Israel had lived in Egypt and was entering Canaan, yet God forbade them to copy the customs of either land (verse 3). Unlike ceremonial shadows, these moral commands abide for all people because they rest on God's holy character and creation order. God made them male and female, and joined a man and his wife as one flesh (Genesis 1 verse 27, 2 verse 24). Verses 6 to 23 guard the home, marriage, and children, forbidding incest, adultery, sacrificing children to Molech, and every sin against God's design. Verse 5 says that if a man does God's statutes “he shall live in them.” Yet Galatians 3 verses 10 to 13 shows that no sinner keeps the law perfectly. Christ bore the law's curse on the cross to wash, sanctify and justify sinners who repent and believe (1 Corinthians 6 verse 11).

How does Leviticus 18 show us that the holy LORD guards marriage and the home with His good laws, and sets His people apart?

God's people must walk in His ordinances, not the customs of Egypt or Canaan.

The LORD begins and ends this chapter with His name, “I am Yahweh your God” (verses 2 and 30). He commands Israel not to follow the practices of Egypt behind them or of Canaan ahead of them (verse 3). What the surrounding world calls normal never sets the standard for God's people. Verse 5 says the man who does them “shall live in them,” and Galatians 3 verse 13 shows Christ gives life.

God sets holy boundaries to protect the family, marriage, and children.

In verses 6 to 18 God forbids approaching close relatives, guarding the home as a place of safety and honor. Verses 20 to 23 forbid adultery, giving children to Molech, and sins against God's design for man and woman. Christ loved the church and gave Himself up to make her holy and without blemish (Ephesians 5 verses 25 to 27).

Sin defiles both people and the land, and God judges the nations.

The nations of Canaan defiled themselves in all these things, so “the land vomited out her inhabitants” (verses 24 and 25). Whether native-born or foreigner, anyone who practiced these abominations would be “cut off from among their people” (verses 26 and 29). Yet 1 Corinthians 6 verse 11 shows that through Jesus Christ and God's Spirit, repentant sinners are washed and justified.

Memorise

You shall do my ordinances, and you shall keep my statutes, and walk in them: I am Yahweh your God.

Leviticus 18:4

Looking to Jesus in my life

Ask yourself in your heart, am I following the world's ways, or trusting Jesus to make my life pure?

In Leviticus 18, the LORD warns Israel not to copy Egypt or Canaan, saying, “I am Yahweh your God.” He guards marriage, the home, and children, warning that whoever practices these abominations “shall be cut off from among their people.” And in verse 5 God says, “You shall therefore keep my statutes and my ordinances; which if a man does, he shall live in them.”

Paul quotes verse 5 in Galatians 3 verse 12 to show why no sinner can be saved by the law. The law demands spotless obedience in every thought, desire and deed, and all of us have sinned in our hearts. We could never earn life by keeping statutes. That is why Jesus Christ, the pure and sinless Son of God, walked in all the Father's statutes without a single stain. Then He went to the cross, became a curse for His people, and died in their place so they would never be cut off. On the third day He rose again, and His blood washes away the deepest stain in full.

Do not let the world excuse your sin, and do not despair over your guilt. Turn from your sin today and put your trust in Jesus. Everyone who comes to Him is forgiven, washed clean, and given a new heart.

Parent's note

Tell your children that God made marriage for our good, and only Jesus can forgive us and make our hearts pure. Please do not tell them they are saved just because they grew up in a Christian home. Call each child to turn from sin and trust Jesus, and pray that God would give them a new heart.

Pray together

Now please close your time together in prayer. Thank God that Jesus bore the curse of the law on the cross to wash and forgive sinners, and bring the heart question to Him. Every child can pray, so let each one say a short prayer if they want to.

Flee from youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

2 Timothy 2:22

Holy Father, You are the LORD our God, and Your ways are pure and good. Forgive us for the sinful desires of our hearts and for following the ways of the world. Thank You that Jesus kept Your law perfectly and died on the cross to wash sinners clean. Please give each of us a pure heart through faith in Jesus, and protect our home. Amen.