How to Read Difficult Passages and See Jesus

Leviticus can feel like a stack of verses people pull out, drop on the table, and use to undermine the whole Bible. God’s Word does not need anybody to be scared of what is actually in it, but it does call people to learn how to read it. The four questions keep the reader from cherry-picking: What did God say? Who did He say it to? What did it mean for them? What does it mean for me? Scripture is not asking what it means to a reader in isolation, but what God says as the reader comes under its authority.

Leviticus 21 does not assign less worth to people with disabilities. The priestly restriction concerns a symbolic function at the altar, while God still provides for those priests to eat from the holy offerings. God’s wider story refuses to tie human dignity to ability, strength, productivity, or independence. Moses, Mephibosheth, and the blind, lame, and sick who came to Jesus all show that weakness is not outside God’s care. Christ, the perfect Lamb without blemish, came for every weak and broken person.

Leviticus 19 names a broken situation involving an enslaved woman and holds the guilty man accountable. God’s law sometimes regulates realities that exist in a fallen world without celebrating those realities. Israel needed to know that vulnerable people were not outside God’s concern, and modern people need to ask what sinful assumptions have become so normal that nobody sees them anymore. God’s Word pushes against the cultural air people breathe.

Leviticus 24 shows that blasphemy against Yahweh was not casual under Israel’s covenant. God was Israel’s King, and defiance against His name was rebellion against the One whose presence dwelt among them. God’s holiness exposes how casually human hearts handle sin. Isaiah, Peter, and every sinner standing before the cross learn that sin cannot be insignificant if Jesus had to die for it.

Leviticus 25 does not need a cute answer. The law permitted slavery in a world already deeply marked by slavery, while the wider law placed boundaries on abuse, condemned kidnapping for enslavement, protected escaped slaves, and reminded Israel that God had redeemed them from Egypt. Christ brings the truth to its fullest light: worldly labels do not determine standing before God, because slave and free come to the same Savior and become family in Him.

Jesus stands at the center of even the hard passages. The priests, sacrifices, blood, holiness, judgment, broken bodies, mistreatment, and bondage all expose a broken world that needs redemption. Christ heals the broken, satisfies judgment in Himself, and frees the slave. The deepest need is not a better argument, but a Savior.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Read hard passages in context God’s Word can stand up to scrutiny, but isolated verses can make almost anything sound like something it is not. Context includes the actual words, the original audience, the historical setting, and the place of a text in the whole Bible. Careful reading does not dodge hard questions, but refuses shallow answers. [25:30]
• 2. Ability never determines human worth Leviticus 21 restricts a priestly role without removing disabled priests from God’s provision or priestly family. Human culture often measures value by strength, beauty, independence, intelligence, or productivity. Jesus shows a different kingdom, where weakness becomes a place for the works of God to be displayed. [34:51]
• 3. Regulation is not celebration God sometimes gives laws that restrain damage in a fallen world without presenting that broken reality as His original desire. This distinction keeps readers from confusing God’s patience within human sinfulness with God’s approval of sinfulness. The same question turns back on every age: what does a culture tolerate simply because it has become normal? [39:33]
• 4. God’s holiness exposes casual sin Blasphemy in covenant Israel was defiance against Israel’s King, not merely offensive religious language. God’s holiness reveals that human hearts regularly underestimate their own rebellion. The cross makes the seriousness of sin impossible to dismiss, because Christ bore judgment that sinners could not bear. [45:23]
• 5. Jesus is the point of Scripture Leviticus does not leave readers trapped in difficult laws or a broken ancient world. Its sacrifices, priesthood, judgment, and longing for freedom all bear witness to Christ. Jesus enters brokenness, heals what is wounded, bears judgment, and brings enslaved people into the family of God. [52:03]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [19:40] - Big Questions at Unexpected Times
• [22:23] - Why Leviticus Raises Hard Questions
• [24:57] - Four Questions for Reading Scripture
• [29:00] - Disabilities, Priesthood, and Human Worth
• [37:00] - Sexual Exploitation and God’s Concern for the Vulnerable
• [41:48] - Blasphemy, Holiness, and the Seriousness of Sin
• [46:23] - Does the Bible Endorse Slavery?
• [51:07] - Do Not Fear Difficult Passages
• [52:03] - Every Hard Passage Points to Jesus
• [56:19] - The Hardest Question: Why Did Jesus Die?

Bible Reading

Leviticus 21:16-23
“And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to Aaron, saying, None of your offspring throughout their generations who has a blemish may approach to offer the bread of his God. For no one who has a blemish shall draw near, a man blind or lame, or one who has a mutilated face or a limb too long, or a man who has an injured foot or an injured hand, or a hunchback or a dwarf or a man with a defect in his sight or an itching disease or scabs or crushed testicles. No man of the offspring of Aaron the priest who has a blemish shall come near to offer the LORD's food offerings; since he has a blemish, he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God. He may eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy and of the holy things, but he shall not go through the veil or approach the altar, because he has a blemish, that he may not profane my sanctuaries, for I am the LORD who sanctifies them.” [29:00]

Leviticus 19:20-22
“If a man lies sexually with a woman who is a slave, assigned to another man and not yet ransomed or given her freedom, a distinction shall be made. They shall not be put to death, because she was not free; but he shall bring his compensation to the LORD, to the entrance of the tent of meeting, a ram for a guilt offering. And the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering before the LORD for his sin that he has committed, and he shall be forgiven for the sin that he has committed.” [37:00]

Leviticus 25:39-46
“If your brother becomes poor beside you and sells himself to you, you shall not make him serve as a slave: he shall be with you as a hired worker and as a sojourner. He shall serve with you until the year of the jubilee. Then he shall go out from you, he and his children with him, and go back to his own clan and return to the possession of his fathers. For they are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves. You shall not rule over him ruthlessly but shall fear your God. As for your male and female slaves whom you may have: you may buy male and female slaves from among the nations that are around you. You may also buy from among the strangers who sojourn with you and their clans that are with you, who have been born in your land, and they may be your property. You may bequeath them to your sons after you to inherit as a possession forever. You may make slaves of them, but over your brothers the people of Israel you shall not rule, one over another ruthlessly.” [46:23]

Observation questions

1. In Leviticus 21:16–23, what restriction is placed on certain priests, and what provision is still made for them within the priestly family? [30:32]
2. In Leviticus 19:20–22, what consequences does the passage require for the man involved, and what does that show about whether his actions are treated as innocent? [37:40]
3. In Leviticus 25:39–46, what does the passage permit regarding foreign slaves, and what other laws mentioned help show the wider biblical concern for those in vulnerable positions? [47:21]
4. What four questions help a reader slow down and read a difficult Bible passage in context rather than building a conclusion from one isolated verse? [25:30]

Interpretation questions

1. Why does the distinction between a priest’s symbolic function at the altar and that priest’s worth before God matter for understanding Leviticus 21:16–23? [31:54]
2. How does recognizing that God sometimes regulates broken realities without celebrating them help explain the situation in Leviticus 19:20–22 and Leviticus 25:39–46? [39:33]
3. What does it mean that an enslaved woman in Leviticus 19 was not outside God’s concern, even in a law addressing an unjust and broken situation? [39:44]
4. How does the gospel change the way Christians should view social labels, power, and the value of other people? [49:50]

Application questions

1. When a difficult verse, social-media clip, or skeptical question about the Bible comes up, which of the four reading questions is most often skipped? What could help a person slow down before reacting? [51:07]
2. Where might a person be tempted to measure someone’s value by ability, health, appearance, intelligence, independence, or productivity? How can the group grow in treating people according to the value Christ has given them? [34:45]
3. What broken assumptions about money, sexuality, power, or vulnerable people have become so normal in the surrounding culture that they can be hard to notice? What would it look like to let God’s Word challenge one of those assumptions? [40:44]
4. Is there a sin that has become casual, excusable, or easy to minimize in a person’s life? How does the holiness of God and the cross of Christ bring that sin into clearer view? [44:01]
5. When someone raises a hard question about Scripture, what might it look like to listen honestly, avoid a shallow answer, and still point them toward Jesus rather than merely trying to win an argument? [53:26]
6. Jesus entered a world marked by weakness, mistreatment, judgment, and bondage. Which part of that good news feels especially needed in a person’s present circumstances, and how can the group encourage one another to bring that need to Him? [52:46]