I have been reading through the Bible using The Daily Bible – which arranges the Bible into 365 chronological readings. I’ve come to Leviticus which contains all the laws. God’s holiness is beyond my understanding and I struggle to reconcile his law with the compassion of Jesus.

Leviticus 21-22 are especially difficult passages for me as they refer to “without blemish.” No priest or animal could have a blemish. That meant no blind priests in the tabernacle. Hunchbacks were not tolerated. Even if your hand was injured, you were not allowed.  Where does Anne’s disability fit into God’s picture of holiness depicted through the Levitical law?

But I have an idea… What if God was painting a picture of his original design? What if he was pointing back to what should have been – before sin entered the world… Sin corrupted everything… even our physical bodies. Disability, sickness, and death were not part of God’s original plan. There was no “blemish” before sin. Taking this idea forward, what if God was also painting a picture of how he will restore all of creation at the end of the age? In the new heaven and new earth, there will be no blemish, no defect, and no disability!

Anne’s disability is just an outward picture of our inward brokenness. Apart from Christ, none of us can approach God’s throne because none of us are “without defect.”

In this difficult time of waiting for heaven, I can find hope in the resurrection of Christ – which undoes the effects of sin. It is the resurrection which begins the great reversal. What did C.S. Lewis write in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe?

Though the witch knew the Deep Magic, there is a magic deeper still which she did not know. But if she could have looked a little further back… she would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor’s stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backward.

Death is working backward. One day Anne will be whole and without defect. And so will I! Lord, hasten the day!