Living Picture

Leviticus 11-15 describes various things by which the people of Israel could become unclean. Eating certain animals or touching their carcasses, having leprosy, or being in a home where mildew damage was spreading could cause one to become unclean, as could commonplace activities as sexual intercourse, menstruation, and childbirth.

While such regulations seem excessive, they were not meant to be forever.  They merely served as a picture of what it means to be God's people.  When Jesus healed the lepers in His day, and told Peter in a vision to eat unclean animals, we see that such things were here for a bigger reason:  God is holy and He is life.  In order to be in His presence we must also be holy and have His life in us, which is only possible with Jesus in our lives.