Where is Jesus Christ found in Leviticus?

In Leviticus, the Israelites learn how to worship God while encamped at the base of Mount Sinai, having escaped slavery in Egypt a few weeks earlier. Yet there is more to the story than former slaves expressing devotion to God. While Jesus would not be born for centuries, he told his disciples that Leviticus was about Him: “Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms” (Luke 24:44). Thus, Leviticus, the third book of Moses, is ultimately about Jesus.

One way the Old Testament points to Jesus is through types. A type is when a person, place, or event foreshadows Jesus. Although types don’t use specific words to tell the future like direct prophecy does, they are a powerful form of foreshadowing that magnifies God’s total knowledge of the past, present, and future and His inspiration of Scripture (2 Peter 1:20–21).

Leviticus opens with God teaching the Israelites how to make offerings (Leviticus 1—7). Specifically, He explains how to perform five kinds: burnt, grain, fellowship, sin, and guilt. The animals sacrificed had to be spotless to convey the need for purity (Leviticus 22:21). These offerings were more than shallow religious rituals because they temporarily made amends for sin, strengthening the offerer’s relationship with God (Leviticus 4:20; 5:13). Years later, Jesus fulfilled what these sacrificial offerings foreshadowed by offering Himself as a spotless sacrifice for sinners (2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 1:18–19).

Still, these offerings had limitations. The New Testament book of Hebrews says that such offerings could never completely remove sin: the “sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper” (Hebrews 9:9). Hebrews further describes the law as “only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves” (Hebrews 10:1). These good things refer to God providing a permanent offering for sin—His Son, Jesus. God’s forgiveness does not come through the blood of animals, but through the blood of Jesus (Hebrews 10:4, 10). Yet the principle is the same: life is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11; Romans 3:25). In this way, the sacrificial system pointed to Jesus, whose death dealt with sin once for all (Hebrews 10:14), and whose cleansing removes the defilement described in Leviticus 11—15 (Hebrews 9:13–14).

As seen in the practice of offerings, priests played an important role in Israel, especially the high priest. Leviticus gives special attention to it because of the importance of worship in the book (Leviticus 8—10; 16; 21–22). Moses’ brother Aaron was the first to serve in this position. Yet, according to Hebrews, Aaron, though generally faithful in his service, was not a perfect high priest. Because of this, there was “still need for another priest to come” (Hebrews 7:11–12). Jesus fulfills the type as the “great high priest,” the quintessential worship leader (Hebrews 4:13–15).

Among all types in Leviticus, the annual Day of Atonement is the cornerstone, as it looks forward to Jesus in a unique and powerful way. On the Day of Atonement, Israel’s high priest offered a sacrifice in the innermost room of the tabernacle, the Holy of Holies, to atone for the nation’s sin (Leviticus 16:16). The high priest had to repeat this every year because it was provisional—it didn’t conclusively atone for sin (Hebrews 10:4). However, Jesus’ sacrifice did because he used “his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption” (Hebrews 9:12–13).

One part of the Day of Atonement has special meaning as a type—the scapegoat. During the ceremony, the Israelites symbolically transferred their sin to a goat, which they drove into the wilderness. This ritual depicted the removal of the Israelites’ sin (Leviticus 16:22). Yet Jesus atoned for sin in a permanent way through the cross. As the gospel proclaims, He forgives sinners and removes their sin “as far as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:12).

The Israelites observed holy days each year in addition to the Day of Atonement, including the Sabbath and sacred feasts (Leviticus 23). The Sabbath looked forward to Jesus’ finished work (Hebrews 4:1–11) and so did each feast. For example, the Feast of Firstfruits was a type of Jesus’ resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:23); the Feast of Trumpets was a type of His return (1 Thessalonians 4:15–18); and the Jubilee pointed to the freedom and restoration He brings (Leviticus 25; Luke 4:18–21).

The central message of Leviticus is a call for God’s people to be set apart: “Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy” (Leviticus 19:2). The more the Israelites obeyed God and grew in holiness, the more clearly their lives and nation pointed to the Messiah. This is why Jesus said, “These are the very Scriptures that testify about me” (John 5:39).