What’s for Dinner?
God demands His people to live lives of radical holiness and obedience.
Leviticus(20) (Part of the Leviticus(17) series)
by Marc Webb(154) on April 26, 2026 (Sunday Morning(428))
What’s for Dinner?
This morning as we dive into God’s dietary laws for His chosen people, the Israelites, I want to pass along to you seven “scientifically” proven diet tips. When I say scientifically proven, they were probably proven by a scientist (photo) who looked like this, so I can’t vouch for their validity. Diet tip #1: snacks consumed in a movie theater are not fattening because they are considered entertainment not food. Diet tip #2: while whole cookies are fattening, pieces of cookies contain no calories, because the calories leak out when they are broken. Diet tip #3: if you drink a diet soft drink with a candy bar, the soft drink and the candy bar cancel each other out. Diet tip #4: snacks consumed after midnight have no calories. Diet tip #5: the rule of thumb for any food is that if no one sees you eat it, it has no calories. Diet tip #6: calories don't count if you eat with someone else and you both eat the same amount. And Diet tip #7: food eaten for medicinal purposes does not contain calories. Medicinal foods include anything chocolate, all ice cream or especially Cheesecake Factory cheesecake or just insert your favorite dessert.
Now that I have given you hunger pains, I want us to try an exercise. In a moment I am going to ask you to close your eyes and on the count of three, while keeping your eyes closed, I will ask you to point north. Once you do that, keep pointing and keep your eyes closed until I tell you. Go ahead and close your eyes. Ready? 1–2–3. Now keep pointing and open your eyes. We are all over the place, aren’t we? How can we know for sure the accuracy of true north. Well, I have a compass here. This compass is the standard that reveals the accuracy of which way is north (BTW north is that way). We have already laid a foundation for the Israelites’ personal need for sacrifices and the priesthood. We also have a better understanding of how Jesus Christ fulfilled both these roles in going to the cross for our sins and serving as our High Priest in heaven at the right hand of the Father. And now, this section of Leviticus will provide the Israelites with a compass showing what God’s true north is for them. Starting with the dietary laws, God will give His people a fixed, guiding point of what was beneficial for them and what was harmful. These laws would help them navigate life's challenges, maintain their integrity, and stay true to God’s standard despite external pressures. The same is true for us today. How do we know what God’s true north for us is? Our true north is God’s Word and in walking like His son, Jesus. This is how we navigate life's challenges, maintain our integrity, and stay true to God’s standard despite the external pressures we face today.
But it’s hard, isn’t it? God is holy and He demanded radical holiness from His chosen people. This radical holiness was to translate into a radical obedience that would be a witness to the world of who God is and His love for all people. The same is true for us, today. When we accept Jesus as our Savior, God declares us holy and by the help of His Holy Spirit we can live radically holy lives in radical obedience to His commands. Just as God blessed the Israelites so that they would be a blessing to the nations, our radical holiness and obedience is to be a witness and a blessing to the lost world around us. That brings us to our big idea this morning that God demands His people to live lives of radical holiness and obedience.
Let’s pray: Heavenly Father, we want to hear from you this morning. So, we pray that your Holy Spirit will fill us so that our eyes, ears and hearts are open to your Word. Give us wisdom and discernment so that we can apply those truths to our lives and give us boldness to share your gospel with others this week. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Our first point this morning is Holiness Explained. As we move to Leviticus 11, we start a new section in God’s “worship and holiness handbook.” Every area of an Israelite’s life was to be distinguished by purity and holiness as defined by God and so I want to explain the terms holy, common, clean and unclean as we begin this section. When God created Adam and Eve, he created them holy and they had almost unlimited access to Him in the Garden of Eden. Once they sinned though they were no longer holy and had to be put out of the garden and out of the presence of God. This was to protect their lives and God’s holiness. Only the holy can be in the presence of a holy God. After the Fall, then, everyone has been born “common”, not holy, because of their sin nature. For the Israelites there were two states of “commonness” (Timeline). They could be either “clean” or “unclean.” If they were “clean” they could either move toward being holy or toward being unclean. Once they became unclean, though, they could not go directly to holiness, they first had to become clean and then could become holy.
The Israelites had to be obsessed with holiness, purity and cleanness because their state of “holiness” could be lost. They moved from left to right on the timeline depending on their radical obedience to the commands of God including the dietary laws in Leviticus 11 (Timeline). When a “clean” Israelite brought an animal sacrifice for atonement they went from clean to holy. God sanctified or made them holy because of the shed blood of the animal sacrifice. Of course, their holiness or sanctification was given to them by the grace of God. In the OT, God called Abraham to be the father of His chosen people, and He granted them holiness based on His grace and favor toward them. They needed to obey God’s laws, commands and rituals to continue in His grace. When they sinned, they would move from a state of holiness to cleanness. And when they committed certain acts, such as touching a carcass of an animal, they moved from clean to unclean. To get back to a state of “cleanness” they had to follow the ritual purity laws set forth by God. This included spending a certain amount of time outside the camp, which depended on the offence, and a ritual washing. Once they were back into a state of cleanness, they could then approach the tabernacle, bringing the proper animal sacrifice for their atonement and being declared holy by God once again.
How does this translate to Christ-followers today? God’s grace for us is contingent on accepting His son, Jesus, as our Savior and Lord. Accepting Jesus is the only way we can be declared holy by God. Once Jesus was crucified, buried and risen again, the left and right movement along the timeline was abolished. Christ’s sacrifice was the atonement, once for all, that by God’s grace, put the believer in a permanent state of holiness, never to be common again. Why is this important? Because everyone born now is born common and will remain in that state until they accept Jesus as their Savior. If they never accept Jesus and die in that common state, they cannot spend eternity in heaven in the presence of a holy God. But vice versa is also true. A person who is born common and accepts Jesus as their Savior is declared holy by the grace of God and when they die in that holy state they will spend eternity in the presence of our holy God. That is the Gospel of Jeus Christ. So, if you are still in a state of commonness this morning, you do not have to stay that way. You can be declared holy by God, and by His grace, spend eternity in His presence, by taking the first next step on the back of your communication card which is I will admit I am a sinner, believe that Jesus died, was buried and rose again to take care of my sin and confess Him as Lord of my life.
That brings us to our second point, Holiness Clarified, and our scripture this morning is found in Leviticus 11:1-23. In these verses, we notice a number of things that remind us of the account of creation in Genesis 1 and the Garden of Eden. First, God divided the clean and unclean animals into three categories: land animals, water creatures and flying creatures. These are the same categories of animals that God created in the beginning. Second, God provided for and limited the Israelites’ diet just as he did for Adam and Eve in the garden. He commanded Adam that he could eat of any tree in the garden except for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Food has always been basic for human survival and graciously given by God for our service to Him and for His glory. He has always wanted us to be dependent on Him for all things including our sustenance. And from the very beginning He set diet boundaries for His people and expected them to be radically obedient to them even without any explanation (Big Idea).
The first category of God’s dietary plan was land animals found in verses 1-8. Verse 1 says “And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron.” The Lord speaking to both Moses and Aaron were a rare occurrence as He normally spoke through Moses alone. Now that Aaron has been ordained, God speaks to Moses as the chief lawgiver and Aaron as the high priest who will mediate the laws and carry out the enforcement of them. In Leviticus 10:10-11, we learned that one of the primary duties of the priests was to distinguish between holy and common and clean and unclean and were to teach the Israelites to discern between these states as well. Proper discernment by the priests and radical obedience of the people was absolutely necessary so that God’s holiness wasn’t violated and so that divine retribution didn’t take place. God begins by clarifying the land animals they were allowed to eat. He doesn’t give specific names of acceptable animals here; he only states the characteristics that an acceptable animal was to have. Verse 2 in the ESV says, “these are the “living” things that you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth.” The very first characteristic of an acceptable clean animal was that it had to be living when it was killed for food. This distinction will be important later. Second, in verse 3, God gave specific characteristics that the “living” land animals had to have in order for them to be eaten. One, the animal had to have a “completely” divided hoof, and two, they had to chew their cud. God then basically repeats the same thought in the negative and furthers the restriction. The further restriction was that the animal had to have both characteristics or the Israelites were not allowed to eat them. The acceptable animals were perfectly clarified by God and would have been fully understood by the Israelites, even though He didn’t name them specifically.
Then God gives specific names of animals that were unacceptable for food and why. First, the camel, the rock hyrax, which looked like a guinea pig, and the hare or rabbit were not acceptable because they chewed their cud and had paws instead of divided hooves. Second, God gave an example of an unacceptable animal that had a divided hoof but did not chew its cud, which was the wild pig or swine. Pigs were especially offensive to the Israelites and considered unclean. These four animals were representative of all the animals that were to be ceremonially unclean for them. Lastly, God puts one more restriction on the people. In addition to not being allowed to eat the meat of an unclean animal, they were not allowed to touch their carcasses. Only “living” acceptable animals could be eaten and they were not even allowed to touch an unclean dead animal.
The second category of God’s dietary plan were water-dwelling creatures found in verses 9-12. Again, He doesn’t give the names of specific acceptable water creatures here; he only states the characteristics of what was acceptable. Like the land animals, the acceptable water creatures had to have two characteristics and only having one or the other made them unacceptable or unclean to eat. Verse 9 says “Of all the creatures living in the water of the seas or streams you may eat any that have fins and scales.” The acceptable water-dwelling creatures had to have both fins and scales in order to be able to eat them. In verse 10 God simply states generally what water-dwelling creatures could not be eaten. “But all creatures in the seas or streams that do not have fins and scales, whether among all the swarming things or among all the other living creatures, you are to regard as unclean.” In fact, they were worse than unclean. The NASB says, “they are detestable things to you, and they shall be abhorrent to you; you may not eat of their flesh, and their carcasses you shall detest.” They were not to eat the flesh of the detestable and abhorrent water creatures and were to detest their carcasses as they were to be regarded as unclean. God makes the positive statement in verse 9 but in verses 10-12 he states it in the negative three times. These negative statements and the words used: “detestable”, “abhorrent”, “abomination” shows that it was absolutely forbidden to eat any water-dwelling creatures that did not have both fins and scales. There was no middle ground.
The third category of God’s dietary plan were the flying creatures found in verses 13-19. The difference here is that God gives no rule for what constituted a “clean” or “unclean” flying creature. Verse 13 says, “These are the birds you are to regard as unclean and not eat because they are unclean.” The ESV calls the following list of birds “detestable” and the NASB calls them “abhorrent.” These specific unclean birds in the NIV are: the eagle, the vulture, the black vulture, the red kite, any kind of black kite, any kind of raven, the horned and the screech owls, the gull, any kind of hawk, the little owl, the white owl, the osprey, the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe and the bat. Noticeably, no clean flying creatures are named. The reason they are unclean seems to be because they were birds that mostly ate dead flesh and the blood of other dead animals which was forbidden for the Israelites,
The fourth category of God’s dietary plan were “flying insects” found in verses 20-23. God goes back to the formula He used for land animals and water creatures by giving the negative and positive characteristics of clean and unclean flying insects. He starts with the negative in verse 20, “All flying insects that walk on all fours are to be regarded as unclean by you (meaning only the Israelites).” Again, as the NASB says they “are detestable to you.” And in verse 21 God states the characteristics of the flying insects they could eat, “There are, however, some flying insects that walk on all fours that you may eat: those that have jointed legs for hopping on the ground.” First, let’s clear up a misconception. We know that insects have six legs and not four. Harrison says, “The reference is evidently to their movements, which resemble the creeping or running of the four-footed animal.” The expression “that walk on four legs” was probably used in a non-literal sense, meaning “to crawl,” and was used of any flying creature with more than two legs. In verse 22 we see the specific flying insects that they were allowed to eat, “Of these you my eat any kind of locust, katydid, cricket or grasshopper.” And in verse 23, God reiterates that “but all other flying insects that have four legs you are to regard as “unclean” and “detestable” to you.”
That brings us to our third point, Holiness Defined. As you may have noticed, God does not give the Israelites any reason or rationale for what was to be considered clean, unclean, detestable, abhorrent or an abomination. Many scholars and commentators have their own opinions and theories as to how God came up with the different distinctions. The first is “allegorical.” This means that the categories are pictures of how believers should and should not live. For example, chewing the cud would be “chewing” or meditating on the Word of God. And the unclean birds which mostly ate dead flesh and the blood of other dead animals, meant that the believer was to stay away from what was sinful, dead and decaying. Most believe this interpretation is too subjective to be considered true. The second is “cultic.” This means that the unclean animals were those used in or associated with pagan worship. God wanted to make a clear distinction between His people and the worshippers of false gods that were their neighbors. The problem with this is that virtually every animal, clean and unclean, were worshipped by the pagan peoples around them. Third, is “hygienic.” This means that the unclean animals carried diseases and so were unfit to eat; implying that the clean animals did not and were safe to eat. The problem with this is that Jesus in Mark 7:19 seemingly declared all animals to be clean and God clearly did so when He confronted Peter about not eating with the gentile Cornelius in Acts 10:9-16. If the unclean animals were unfit for the Israelites to eat, they should also be unfit for us to eat today.
Fourth is “symbolic.” This means that the clean animals were representative of righteous believers and the unclean animals were representative of sinful people. Again, this is too subjective and has the problem of God eventually calling these creatures good. Plus, we are all sinful people. Fifth is “sacrificial.” This means that the clean animals were ones that God ordained to be used in making sacrifices to Himself. Bulls, sheep and goats all chew their cud and have divided hooves. Turtledoves and pigeons are not carrion-type birds. The problem with this view is that clean fish and insects were never used as a sacrifice. Sixth, is “arbitrary.” This means that God arbitrarily decided which land animals, water-dwelling creatures and flying creatures were clean and which were unclean. I would say the problem with this is that God is not an arbitrary God. The classifications may have been arbitrary but His motivation for giving the dietary and purity laws to His people were not. The Israelites were to submit with radical obedience because these laws, like moral and ethical laws, reflected the will of God for Israel and reflected God’s holy character that they were to emulate. The ultimate reason or rationale for these laws was simply that God commanded it. Jack Van Impe said, “God said it, I believe it and that settles it.” Holiness is defined by God because He was and is the ultimate example and authority of what is holy and what is not.
Leviticus 20:7 says, “Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy,” and so ultimately, the only rationale for the purity laws is that God is holy and His people must live radically holy and obedient lives that testify to His holiness, goodness and love for all people (Big Idea). Remember I said earlier that the Israelites were to be obsessed with holiness and that they were to be holy in every area of their lives without exception. To accomplish this, God gave them concrete definitions of what was holy, clean and unclean. The same can be said for Christ-followers today. Holiness is not as hard to define as we may think it is. 2 Corinthians 7:1 says, “Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.” 1 Peter 2:11 says, “to abstain from sinful desires or passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.” We know right from wrong. We know what constitutes sin and what constitutes holy living. It is found in our compass, our true north, God’s Word and in walking as Jesus walked. Psalm 119:9 says, “How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word.” That brings us to our second next step, which is I will live a life of radical holiness and obedience in every area of my life.
In conclusion, I want to read this illustration that I call “Firing Blanks.” Roy Robertson is a name that few people recognize. But God had to get his attention and point him back to true north. He wrote the following account of a life-changing experience. “My ship, the West Virginia, was docked at Pearl Harbor on the evening of December 6, 1941. A couple of the fellows and I left the ship that night and attended a Bible study. About fifteen sailors sat in a circle on the floor. The leader asked each of us to recite our favorite Scripture verse. In turn each sailor shared a verse. I grew up in a Christian home, went to church three times a week, but I sat there terrified. I couldn’t recall a single verse. Finally, I remembered one verse—John 3:16. I silently rehearsed it in my mind. The spotlight of attention grew closer as each sailor took his turn. It was up to the fellow next to me. He recited John 3:16. He took my verse! As he commented on it I sat there in stunned humiliation. In a few moments everyone would know that I could not recall from memory even a single verse. Later that night I went to bed thinking, ‘Robertson, you’re a fake.’
“At 7:55 the next morning I was awakened by the ship alarm ordering us to battle stations. Three hundred and sixty planes of the Japanese Imperial Fleet were attacking our ship and the other military installations. My crew and I raced to our machine gun emplacement, but all we had was practice ammunition. So, for the first fifteen minutes of the two-hour battle, we only fired blanks hoping to scare the Japanese airplanes. As I stood there firing fake ammunition I thought, ‘Robertson, this has been how your whole life has been—firing blanks for Christ.’ I made up my mind as Japanese bullets slammed into our ship, ‘If I escape with my life, I will get more serious about following Jesus.’ ” Roy Robertson went on to help Dawson Trotman found the Navigators. He also was involved in the follow-up ministry for the 1990 Billy Graham Crusade in Hong Kong that saw more people hear the gospel at one time than any other meeting in history. But all of this happened after God reminded him of what compass he was to follow.
The quickest way to determine if you are “faking it” or “firing blanks” for Christ is to honestly assess your obsession with holiness. Do you live a radically holy life punctuated by radical obedience. Or are you pretending? Do you read God’s Word and then fail to apply the truths you receive? Are you faking it? Have you been told over and over through God’s still small voice to get back on track, and yet you live your life in denial and defy everything God is telling you to do? If so, then you too will only fire blanks when it comes to making a difference with your life for Jesus. As Christians we are to be in the world but not of it. Are you more of the world than not? Do you fit in and conform to the world to the detriment of your Christian witness? If so, this last next step is for you. I will stop “firing blanks” and get serious about radically following my Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ.
As the Praise Team comes to lead us in a final song and the ushers prepare to collect the tithes and offerings, let’s pray: Heavenly Father, thank You for Your Word and Your Son, Jesus, that points us to true north. Forgive us for the ways we have treated Your holiness lightly and renew in us a desire for radical holiness and obedience that flows from love, not duty. By Your Spirit, help us to turn from sin, walk as Jesus walked, and be a blessing and witness to those around us this week. Take our worship and our lives and use them for Your glory. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Opening: Ray Stedman, The Way to Wholeness (Discovery House Publishers, 2005), 139
Opening: Glen S. Martin, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, ed. Max Anders, Holman Old Testament Commentary (B&H Publishing Group, 2002), 195.
Closing: Glen S. Martin, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, ed. Max Anders, Holman Old Testament Commentary (B&H Publishing Group, 2002), 202-203.