 All right, we are recording now. Yes, hi, wishing you all a good morning. And today we would be having our third book of the Old Testament, which is Leviticus. So we started off with Genesis, generally called the book of the beginnings because it talks about the beginning of a whole lot of things right from creation to the making of man and to the institutions that got set up for the very first time. So it was a book of beginnings. And then we had Exodus, which is generally called the book of redemption because God redeemed his people and he helped them to begin a new chapter in their lives. And now we have Leviticus, which is generally known as the book of atonement because in this book there are detailed instructions given about the sacrificial system, about the rituals which have spiritual significance, which need to be performed in the temple. So all of those things are mentioned in the book of Leviticus. Now the book of Leviticus was very important for the Israelites because it taught them how they are a bunch of effective human beings, defective in the sense that they are not perfectly holy, even though some of them are sincere and want to follow Yahweh, they sometimes sin, they sometimes fall short. And so Leviticus taught these people who are so imperfect how to come into the presence of a perfectly holy God. So Leviticus was very important. It showed them what sacrifices they can perform, what rituals they can follow. And the Lord would be willing to recognize and validate those rituals and ceremonies and be willing to allow them to come into His presence without getting killed because God is that holy. Nothing sinful can casually enter into His presence without His permission. And so Leviticus taught them holiness, Leviticus taught them how they can make themselves acceptable to the Lord. And in this particular book of the Bible, we are told that the word holy is used more than a hundred times. So in more than any other book of the Bible, Old or New Testament, this word holy is used the maximum number of times in the book of Leviticus. We also have the word sacrifice being used in this book 42 times. The word priest is used 189 times and the term blood is used 86 times. All of these terms which are connected to sacrificial purity, connected to a hymen ceremonial purity, sorry, and the sacrificial system. Now in this book of Leviticus, we have instructions being given to the Levitical priests about how they are to conduct the different ceremonies, how they are to celebrate the feasts which remind people of what the Lord has done and the different celebrations which they must hold as a nation. The priests are given instructions on how to conduct these things. And obviously, Leviticus points towards Jesus. Why was God willing to accept a bunch of ceremonies and rituals because these are pointing towards what Jesus will accomplish one day. What an animal cannot really do with its blood. The Lamb of God would one day do to his blood. So all these rituals in Leviticus are sacred and they are significant and they are not the same as the rituals which were being practiced by the other nations living at that time because they too had their own religious rituals. But then those rituals were not backed up by Yahweh. In the sense they were not pointing to anything that Yahweh had planned or anything that he would be accomplishing. On the other hand, the Israelite rituals, they were pointing to something that would be done by God himself when the right time comes. And that is why the Israelite rituals become sacred and they can be regarded as very, very significant. Now coming to the genre that we find in the book of Leviticus, we again have narrative history because it talks about the events which took place. So you have narrative history and you also have a lot of laws. So the particular format which was used in those days to write down laws, instructions. So that particular format of writing was used wherever instructions needed to be given. You have many key personalities in the book of Leviticus. We have Moses of course, Moses and Aaron because Moses would be the leader, Aaron of course would be the high priest. You have his four sons, Nadab, Abihu, Eliazer and Itamar. They would be the key personalities in this particular book. Now, Leviticus basically talks about events which took place over a period of one month because at the time when they all were gathered over there at Mount Sinai. So it mainly talks about the events which took place over a span of one month. And most likely it was written approximately around 1446 B.C. At which time, the Lord gave all these instructions at Mount Sinai. A couple of new testament verses which refer to Moses having written in the book of Leviticus. We could maybe look at John 145 and in John 145, Philip was speaking to Nathaniel and he says, we have found the one Moses wrote about. So it's made very, very clear that the one Moses wrote about in the law. The term law over here is referring to the first five books, Torah. The first five books were called the law. So John 145 clearly establishes that the person who wrote the books of the law was Moses himself. Also in Romans 10.5, we have another reference where it says Moses writes this about the righteousness that is by the law. So again over there, there's a very specific quotation being given. And maybe one person could read out Romans 10.5 and those of us who are online if you could follow Romans 10.5 in our Bible space. There's a quotation here. If you were to look in your Romans 10.5 you have this inverted quotes over there. And within the quotation marks, you have the quotation which says, the person who does these things will live by them. That is a direct quotation taken from the book of Leviticus. That would be Leviticus 18.5 and so Paul, when he is writing the book of Romans, he says, Moses wrote these words in the book of Leviticus. So these are all evidence for us that Moses has written these things. Coming to the structure of the book of Leviticus. Maybe we could divide this book into five main divisions. Chapters one to seven is where you have the list of the five important sacrifices. All the Israelites were required to perform and observe these five main sacrifices and they are described in chapters one to seven. Chapters eight to 10 is where Moses gives instructions to the priests, specifically to the priests. It says in chapter eight that Moses stands in the doorway of his tent and he begins to speak. So chapters eight, nine and 10 give a long list of instructions which were given to the priests on how to do different things in the conduct of the tabernacle and all the other spiritual rituals. Then we have chapters 11 to 15. In chapters 11 to 15, it talks about the clean animals, the unclean animals, things that would make a person unclean if they were to touch those things. It talks about the ritual that the person has to undergo to purify himself if he has touched something unclean. All of those things are described in your chapters 11 to 15. Now chapter 16 is very, very significant. That talks about the day of atonement and what the priest is supposed to do on that day. What are the people supposed to do on that particular day? So we have chapter 16 talking about those things. And if we have time, we will look into this particular aspect in greater detail during our session. But just for us to have an idea, the day of atonement was the one time in the entire year when one single human being was allowed to actually enter into the holy of holies. At any other point, if anyone had even dared to enter, they would immediately be killed because God is the holy God and he will not tolerate sinfulness. So one single time in the entire year, one person who would be the high priest, he would be allowed to go inside the holy of holies to sprinkle the blood before the altar on behalf of the nation. So as a symbol saying, Lord, we have been following your laws. We have been performing the animal sacrifices according to your instructions. Therefore, have mercy upon us as a nation and do not hold our sins against us. So the high priest would go in there and sprinkle the blood before the arc of the covenant which is inside the holy of holies. And it's not recorded in the Bible, but tradition says that even as this high priest would go inside, they would tie a rope to his foot because in case he has gone there with the wrong attitude, if there is sin that he has not repented of, there is a likely chance that he would die in there and nobody would have the guts to go inside and bring him out because they too would meet the same fate. So it is said that they probably tied a rope to his foot so that in case he perishes inside and they don't hear the tinkling of those bells which were attached to the edge of his rope, if they don't hear any tinkling and they hear only silence, then this chance that maybe the man has fallen down under the judgment of God and they would pull him out using the rope. So this was not something to be joke. Here in our New Testament times because we have the grace of God under the new covenant and we have the Holy Spirit living in us, we tend to take God's presence so lightly sometimes but then the Old Testament people had a very clear awareness of whom they were dealing with. This was not just some man-made deity that they had come up with and created a story about. This was a living God who had the power of life and death in his hands and so they were very careful at least in the beginning in how they interacted with him. So day of atonement talks about a very important aspect of the Old Testament rituals. Chapter 17 to 27 would be the last section and that basically gives a lot of laws which would need to be followed to live a holy life. There are laws on avoiding idolatry of any kind. There are laws which talk about property, how you should respect the property rights of other people because you don't do that, it's a sin in God's eyes. It talks about of course the moral laws which people need to follow. And in chapter 23 specifically, you have a description of the seven feasts which the people would need to celebrate all of these feasts. What a reminder of different things that God has done for them as a nation. So chapter 23 talks about the seven feasts. It also talks about the Sabbath year and the year of Jubilee. Now all of these things, if we have time, we will touch upon these aspects. So it could be nice, someone can wave their hands at me at 11.40 in case there are any questions at that point of time. You can actually ask your questions. So how is Christ represented in the book of Leviticus? All the seven feasts talk about Jesus Christ in some way or the other. For instance, of course, the most popular, the most well-known between the feasts of the Passover. And how does it represent Christ? In the same way, the blood of the lamb which was applied on the dope post at the time of the Passover, the first Passover, in the same way that blood could shield the people from God's judgment. Even today, the blood of Jesus is able to cleanse us and shield us from the judgment of God. So Passover points to the work of substitutionary death which Jesus would perform on the cross. The feast of unleavened bread where there would not be any yeast in the bread which was used during that feast, that would symbolize how there is no sin of any kind in the perfect lamb. Okay, so during the feast of unleavened bread, they would be careful to bake bread which does not contain any yeast in it. Yeast is not a bad thing, it's just that over here, it's being used as a symbol of sin. So they would use unleavened bread, bread without any yeast in it to symbolize the fact that one day a savior will come who will have absolutely no sin in him and who will be spotless and therefore his sacrifice will be perfectly acceptable to the Lord. Okay, so the feast of unleavened bread points to what Jesus will do and it also points to the fact that one day all people are meant to live in that way. Even in the Old Testament, people are expected to live carefully without sin in their lives because they are in the presence of a holy God. The feast of first fruits, that actually is referred to in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verses 20 to 23, where Jesus Christ becomes the first fruit of the resurrection, in the same way that he defeated death and rose up from the dead, in the same way all those who follow him will also defeat death when the time comes. Okay, so Jesus becomes the first fruits of the resurrection. So that is signified by the feast of first fruits. We also have the feast of Pentecost. Now that is more popular, more well-known and that symbolizes, of course in the olden times they were not aware of what would happen in Acts in the book of Acts but that particular feast of the Pentecost was actually pointing forward to the time when the Holy Spirit would come down upon its people. Then you have also the feast of trumpets, the feast of the day of atonement. We also have the feast of tabernacles. These feasts, they point partially to the second coming of Christ. They also of course point to other aspects as well. So these are all some of the main things that we would need to know about the book of Leviticus. Now coming to a brief overview of some of the important, interesting concepts that we find in the book of Leviticus. We find a very strict instruction in Leviticus that people should not eat blood. See now, that sounds a little strange because generally you would think of blood as a liquid, something that you would drink rather than eat but then you know, we know, right? I mean, you leave blood out in the open long enough. It kind of congeals into a kind of trusty, semi-solid thing. So very specifically it's told in the book of Leviticus that people should not, the Israelites should not eat this congealed blood. And the instruction is first given in Genesis itself. So maybe we could have one person turn to Genesis chapter nine versus three to four because that is where the instruction is first given and the explanation is first given of why this should not be done. So if you were to look in Genesis chapter nine with three to four, basically over there, God is saying, so far I have told you that you can eat all the plants but now I am telling you that you can even eat the animals which have been provided. So if one of us can read out nine, three to four. Okay, so over here it says that you must not eat meat because it's life, blood is in it. And the same thing gets repeated again in Leviticus. Leviticus three, 17 talks about it. Leviticus seven, 26 talks about it. Leviticus 17, 10 to 12 also talks about it. Maybe we can only read out Leviticus 17, 10 to 12 right now if we can have one person read out. Leviticus 17, 10 to 12. Okay, so over here in verse 11, Leviticus 17, 11 it is explained the life of a creature is in the blood. And I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves. It is the blood that make atonement for one's life. So there's a symbolic significance to blood. It is with the blood that God is allowing humans to be accepted. So atonement is being offered through the blood. So the blood signifies something sacred. And so the main first reason why blood should not be treated like a common thing and eaten by the people of that time is because it is a symbol of life. And life has been given by God and life should not be taken away in a light manner. And so it's a blood symbolizes life and therefore it should not be eaten. The second reason was because of the kind of practices which the other nations had in that time. They are all the nations were aware that the blood symbolizes life. And so they would use blood in their own pagan rituals, eating it and using it for different rituals in a manner that was displeasing to God because these things were being done in the name of other spirit beings who are in fact not gods. So the reason they were, in the future we look at Leviticus 17, 10 to 12. The warning is given not just to the Israelite but also to any foreigner residing among them. And it gets repeated again in the verse 12 where it says, nor none of you may eat blood nor may any foreigner residing among you because these practices were prevalent at that time. They were nations which were using this blood for their own ceremonies and rituals because they were aware that blood symbolizes life. Now even in the New Testament you have that same instruction being repeated again which means God regards this as something important. So we see that happening in Acts chapter 15 verse 29. And again if we can have one person quickly read out Acts chapter 15 verse 29. So now just to give a brief context of Acts chapter 15, a lot of people were coming to the Lord Jesus and making a commitment to Him even from other faiths, so from other backgrounds and the Jewish people who had become followers of Jesus who had become true believers. They were looking at these new believers from other faiths and it troubled them very greatly that these people were not following all the mosaic laws and rituals which they were so sincerely following. And so they began to tell these other believers you too must follow the mosaic laws. And the Gentiles were saying, why should we follow it? We are not descendants of Abraham so it doesn't really apply to us and there was a lot of debate going on. And so at that time all the elders they come together and they have a discussion regarding this and with the approval of God, they finally make this decision. They say that because the Gentiles, in fact none of the believers are under the old covenant any longer because Jesus has brought in a new covenant. So there is no need to follow any of the rituals of the old covenant except for three things which must continue to be observed which must continue to be followed. One of course is that there should be no idolatry of any kind. Second, there should be no immorality of any kind. And third, do not have the blood of animals that should not be consumed because in the Old Testament the blood symbolized life, the blood symbolized the ritual which God was using for the atonement of sins. And in the New Testament it was symbolizing something even more great because over here it's not just symbolizing the atonement made to the blood of animals. It's talking about the atonement made to the son of God himself. And so blood is a sacred thing over here. And so it points towards what Jesus has done, shedding his own blood for humanity. And so it's not something to be regarded lightly. And because blood is a holy thing, a sacred thing, Jesus says in the book of John in a very shocking statement, he says, I'm commanding you to eat my flesh and drink my blood and to the Jews that must have sounded like the most scary and horrifying thing they've ever heard. Like for generations and generations we have been following the law of Moses and he has warned us that we should never touch blood. And here is Jesus saying to us, you shall eat my flesh and drink my blood. And it would have shocked and horrified them. But Jesus was pointing to the fact that eternal life is only possible through him. Only the person who submits to what he has done on the cross believes in it and accepts it and applies it to himself by eating his flesh in that sense by becoming part of what he has done by choosing to partake of his sacrifice by drinking of his blood in that symbolic sense. So both in the Old Testament and the New Testament the blood is a symbol pointing to life and also pointing to the work of atonement which God has done for humanity. And now in the early church I think probably at least for the few generations they continued to have wine as a symbol of the shed blood of Jesus. But then later on they completely stopped using wine and many of them reverted to grape juice and other things. The Roman church of course continued to use wine. Now why the sudden change transition from wine to grape juice? We see that happening already in the New Testament where you have an instruction being given by Paul to Timothy where he says, you know, because of your stomach condition because you're going through what you are, you know take a little bit of wine is the instruction he gives because in those days they couldn't walk up to the, you know the medical shop down the road and buy medicines. They had very few medicines. Wine was considered a kind of medicine. It was used to create certain mixtures which would maybe help them a little bit with their health. So for medical reasons he was asked to take. So at that time itself the church which has now got the Holy Spirit living in them began to realize that anything that we drink or eat which makes us, you know, lose our senses which makes us behave in a way which dishonors God which makes us kind of not alert to the dangers and temptations which can come. We should start avoiding those things. So right then in the early church itself the believers stopped taking wine because they knew that under the influence of wine they will no longer be thinking straight. There's a danger of stepping away from the Lord's face. There's a danger of doing something sinful which, you know, they would deeply regret later which would bring dishonor to the name of God and to the church aware of all of these things. Right at that time itself believers began to stop taking wine. So grape juice was a good substitute and also another thing that we just need to remember is that in the Israelite times the wine which was served at the dining table where they were the entire family would sit would be in a very highly diluted state. Even the children would have it. Because they again did not have, you know, good clean drinking water supply, whatever wells they had, whatever water they could get out of the wells had to be purified, boiled, you know, and all kinds of things had to be done. Now of course you have the slurry bottles, you know, you don't really worry about good drinking water. So the culture of those times was different. Today we all know what liquor stands for. The images which come to our mind, you know, when we think of liquor are not very good images especially because now we have hard liquor, you know. So down the line, the church has always felt that grape juice is a better substitute for wine because wine has got very negative cultural implications now. Not exactly something that you would want to associate with something spiritual and holy, all right. So that is regarding the law against the consuming of blood. Now coming to these sacrifices, we need to kind of briefly touch upon these. Like I said, there are five main sacrifices which are dealt with in the first seven chapters of Leviticus. The first is the burnt offering. I have it actually in the slide. Okay, I hope it's showing up on your screens for those of you who are online as well. So not sure how clear it is, kind of readable at least for the people who are sitting in front of their laptops. The burnt offering is actually, it symbolizes complete surrender, complete commitment. So when you go and offer your, in those ancient times in the Old Testament, when people would go to the temple and offer their burnt offering, they are saying, God, we are now doing this to completely surrender and submit ourselves to you. So they would volunteer, they would choose to go and do that in the presence of God. Coming to the grain offering, the grain offering was more a thanksgiving offering. So they're going with that grain offering to the temple to express their gratitude for something that God has done for them. To say to him, Lord, we are grateful for all the blessings which we have been experiencing over the last few months. And so they would take the grain offering as a thanksgiving offering to the Lord. Sin offering, the third one, would be given for any sin that has been committed you know, unintentionally without meaning to they might have done something wrong. And so that becomes an obstacle between them and God. And so the sin offering is given saying, Lord, even if we have done something, please forgive us even as we are offering this sin offering to you. So the sin offering was compulsory. If people did not offer that sin offering, that sin which they have committed would continue standing there as an obstacle between them and the Lord. So it was something compulsory which they must do. Guilt offering is also called trespass offering depending on which version of the New Testament of the Old Testament you're reading. Some Bibles will call it guilt offering. Some Bibles will call it trespass offering. Now that is an offering. Again, that was a compulsory one. That would be something that would be given in case you have touched something wholly accidentally like one of the vessels used in the tabernacle or something. So anything wholly if you touch it accidentally then you would have to make the trespass offering. Also, if you have somehow touched upon the rights of another person in the sense, you have built your fence a little extra wide and now it has encroached upon someone else's property. So in a sense, you have touched what belongs to them. Legally it belongs to them and here you are, your fence is going into their land. So you have broken somebody, you have harmed someone in that sense. So that would also lead to a trespass. In the same way, cattle, if your bull goes into someone else's field and creates a mess over there, starts destroying the plants, crops, whatever, that would be when you would go and offer a trespass offering because you have trespassed upon the rights of another person or you have touched something which is wholly which you were not supposed to touch. So guilt offering and our trespass offering would be given on those occasions. The third, the fifth category would be your peace offerings. Now these are again given as in a way of saying thanks. They're also given when you want to make a vow before God and say, Lord, I'm going to fast for the next 40 days. So you'll first go and make a vow offering and make a commitment saying, Lord, I will do this, this, this. So it's for all of those kinds of things that this particular offering was made. Okay, so these are the five main offerings. Two of them are compulsory, three of them are voluntary and the person would choose to offer them. And we see that even these five offerings also point towards the offering which Jesus would make on the cross. So Jesus, he became a burnt offering in the sense. He completely submitted himself to the Father to do his will and we too now are expected to submit ourselves to the Lord in the same way that Jesus did. So the burnt offering which Christ offered when he sacrificed himself on the cross, that was a complete submission to the will of God. The sin offering, he was the one who bore our sins upon him. He became our sin bearer. He carried our sins. So in that sense, Jesus became the sin offering. He also became a trespass offering because the sins which we commit harm other people. They bring dishonor to the Lord. They are trespassing upon other people and they are trespassing upon the honor of God, the things that we do. So this damage involved, it will always involve damage. You can't say that I'm, because that's the argument that people use nowadays. They say, yeah, I'm doing what I want but I'm not hurting anyone. No, it's what they say. But even if they're not physically hurting someone, they are hurting the honor of God. They are, by doing their own thing and not following God's instructions, they are trespassing upon the honor of God. And as created beings, they must bow to him and submit to him and not dishonor him in any way. So the argument does not work. So for all these damages which sin causes, Christ became the payment for all of those damages. So in that sense, Christ is also the trespass offering. All right, let's just conclude this. Yeah. Now, maybe we have some more time before the questions can be asked. Why do we have a lot of smiling students here? It's not 11.40 in my watch. Give me three minutes, please, because it says 11.37. Okay, now it says 11.38, can you? Okay, so yeah, just to, you know, squeeze in another point. In the book of Leviticus, we have one narrative where you have, who are they? Maybe we can just read out the words, actually. Leviticus 10, verses one to three, you have an incident, a narrative being given over here. So if we can have one person read out Leviticus chapter 10, verses one to three. Okay, so you have Aaron who was appointed as high priest, and he had four sons who were also appointed as priests, and two of these sons, they decide to come into the presence of God using fire, which has not been authorized by God, and they follow some procedure, which God has not instructed, which God has not commanded. They're not given the details of exactly what mistake they did, but they did something using their own initiative, not according to the instructions given by God. And when they did it in that manner, the Lord's responses, you have dishonored me by choosing to follow your way and not following my instructions. And so fire comes down from the heavens and burns them up. They die right there. Must have been a huge shock to Aaron who was standing over there. I don't know whether he, he probably, my firm, I was not aware of what kind of a fire these two sons were offering. He probably did not realize it. But then they drop down dead right there because the fire of God comes down and burns them up. And so maybe one little bit of explanation that we can find for that could be in Leviticus chapter 16 verse 12, which gives you an instruction regarding the kind of fire that should be used when the priests are offering incense before the Lord. Leviticus 16, 12, if we can have one person lead out from here. The problem with the Israelites was that they did not really understand the great holiness of God and the perfection of him. They even one symbolic thing, they do it in the wrong way. The symbolism is getting messed up. You see, everything that's happening over there in the Old Testament and the instructions being given are all pointing towards the work of Christ. And if they start going and using their own variations of what God has said, they are messing up the symbolism of what God is trying to convey. And so here it says very clearly, he is to take a sensor full of burning coals from the altar before the Lord because that altar has been sanctified ceremonially. And so the coals which are burning over there are sanctified coals and you use that when you're making an incense offering before the Lord and the Lord considers it as sacred because all of that is pointing towards something greater which is going to come in the future. So most probably they say, scholars say this Nathab and Abihu probably took fire from somewhere else. They didn't bother taking the holy fire which is already there in God's presence and use that to burn their incense. Maybe they just use something else. So they say that maybe that was the mistake which these two sons of Adam committed. Any questions at all? Yes, yeah. So the question which is being asked over here in the class is that on the day of our turn when it was the blood of the holy lightings and the goats that were sprinkled in the holy of holies. So when blood was being used on that occasion and it has been instructed that people should not partake of blood, why were they using that? I mean, doesn't contradict what is being told in the instructions of God. So blood was considered as sacred and set apart for atonement rituals, atonement purposes. So God kind of reserved it for him, said, I'm going to be using this blood as a symbol of life, as a symbol of cleansing. So I will be considering this and reserving this as a sacred thing, not to be used lightly, not to be eaten lightly, not to be used for pagan sacrifices. So in that sense, it was forbidden for them to eat of that. It was forbidden of them to use it for pagan rituals, even they were not meant to use it because God had decided to use it as a symbol for what Christ is going to do. So in that sense, it was reserved for holy purposes alone and not to be used by people for other purposes. Yes, any other question from here? And like I said, the online students can post their questions in the stream page after the class. Anything else? We have another six minutes and I can definitely squeeze in something more if you don't have any other questions. The kind of saucer with a handle, very bad way of saying it. You know, if you were to type C-N-S-E-R in your Google, I'm sure you would have to look part which shows a very fashionable, almost like a little holder kind of a thing and you have a saucer sticking out and that's where they would put in the frankincense and they would burn it and it would smell really nice. A sensor is just basically a holder, a container in which they would burn the incense. You would have to look part of that in Google. Yeah. Anything else? Any other questions? There are questions bubbling in the back row but nobody's speaking. Okay, fine. Just something that I wanted to touch upon because there's a lot of discussion which always goes on about clean animals, unclean animals and all of that. And I know what crime did some poor animals do that they are called as unclean and while the others are called clean. So it's just good for us to remember that when God created animals and insects and all of these living creatures, he created them and he saw that it was good in his perfect eyes, his creation was good. So he never considers any animal bad. Okay, so this was again symbolism. Certain animals were declared as unclean and certain other animals were considered as clean in a symbolic sense because of what they were representing. So certain animals, the ones which come under the clean category of animals, they were supposed to represent the chosen people of God, the holy nation which he has chosen for himself. The clean animals were representing the Israelites and the people of God. The unclean animals were supposed to be representing the other nations and the other nations have made themselves unclean by choosing to follow things which are not from Yahweh. They are going deliberately against the instructions which have been revealed and they are choosing to worship other entities rather than Yahweh himself and so they have made themselves unclean through their procedures and so certain animals were chosen to represent these nations. And then something very interesting happens after the crucifixion and the resurrection, work of Christ, God comes to Peter who is spending time in prayer on the terrace of the house and God says to him, now onwards you can eat any animal you want. There is no more any classification of clean and unclean animals. Why? Because now Jews and Gentiles, everyone is clean if they come to the Lord Jesus. He will sanctify them. He will wash away their sins and their sins are completely remitted and cut off. So all Jews and all Gentiles from now on can be made clean by coming to Jesus. Those who choose not to, of course they don't enjoy the cleansing which they can have. So no longer is there is a symbolic distinction needed between unclean animals and clean animals because now everything can be clean. All people can be clean through Jesus. So no longer is there any distinction made. So God never considered some animals bad and some animals as good. That is not the issue which is being talked about over here. Is so. Yeah, that's just one point that I wanted to make. And we have two minutes left. You see, right now it's a class that you're sitting in but one day you're going to be ministering to people and they're going to ask you questions. And so if you have those answers with you now it will be useful to you at that time. So just to squeeze in one final thing, this is regarding the day of atonement. There were two goats used. If you will, we could go back to your Leviticus chapter 16 and look at all the details. You can get that later. But just for me to know, introduce what I can in these two minutes that I left. There were two goats used on the day of atonement and this was the instruction that was given. The high priest would lay his hands on one goat and all the sins of the people would be transferred on to that goat and that goat would be sacrificed. So basically the sacrifice is being done to say that Lord, we have sinned against you but now this animal is being offered as a sacrifice. So unleash your judgment, unleash your anger and your wrath upon this animal and spare us. Do not allow us to be destroyed. So the sins of the entire nation were transferred on to that goat. And then there was second goat involved and that was where you get the term, the English term scapegoat from. The second goat came to be called the scapegoat. Now that goat, again all the sins of the nation would be transferred upon that goat. This goat was left in the wilderness to wander away and go away and nobody knows where it's gone and nobody can find it in the sense. It is carrying the sins of the nation and going away, never to be seen again. God is saying, I am completely wiping those sins away. I will no longer remember them. The goat has carried those things and gone away and I consider you guiltless and innocent. And we see Jesus Christ doing both of those things for us. He has cleansed us with his blood, has washed us with his blood. And second, the technical term is that an expiation has been done, a remitting, a cutting off of the sins is done. So now once God has cleansed, once we have repented, he no longer even holds it anymore against us. It's like as if an animal has taken my sins and gone away for good. No longer to be seen, no longer to be remembered. So we are completely cut off from those sins. Those things are no longer attached to us. So God sees us as being sinless, as being guiltless. Okay, so the two goats were supposed to signify these two aspects of the sacrifice. And now that Kiran has given her command, we shall definitely finish. All right, so maybe we can just close with the word of prayer. I mean, especially because we were doing the book of Leviticus, a very quick prayer. Lord, we just thank you so much for all that you have planned for us right from Old Testament times a lot. In fact, your scriptures say that the Lamb of God was slain before the foundation of the world. So all along the Lord, you had our redemption in your heart. You had a plan to save us, to deliver us, to give us a new beginning. And Lord, it's so beautifully explained in the book of Leviticus. Thank you, Lord, for your great love and faithfulness towards us. In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you so much for listening, even those of you online. And yeah, we'll meet again next week.