Reading God's Word, and I'll begin actually in verse 16 of Exodus 40, Thus Moses did according to all that the Lord had commanded him, so he did. And these are references to how the various parts of the tabernacle to be constructed. Now it came about in the first month of the second year on the first day of the month that the tabernacle was erected. And Moses erected the tabernacle, and laid its sockets, and set up its boards, and inserted its bars, and erected its pillars. So they began with the outer part, the courtyard. He spread the tent over the tabernacle, and put the covering of the tent on top of it, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. Then he took the testimony, and put it into the ark, and attached the poles to the ark, and put the mercy seat on top of the ark. He brought the ark into the tabernacle and set up a veil for the screen and screened off the ark of the testimony just as the Lord had commanded Moses. Then he put the table in the tent of meeting on the north side of the tabernacle outside the veil. He set the arrangement of bread and order on it before the Lord just as the Lord had commanded Moses. Then he placed the lampstand in the tent of meeting opposite the table on the south side of the tabernacle. He lighted the lamps before the Lord just as the Lord had commanded Moses. Then he placed the gold altar and the tin of meeting in front of the veil, and he burnt fragrant incense on it, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. Then he set up the veil for the doorway of the tabernacle. He set the altar of the burnt offering before the doorway of the tabernacle, the tin of meeting, and offered on it the burnt offering and the meal offering, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. And he placed the laver." The laver was a large brazen bowl, basically. It would be filled with water for the priests. to wash in. He placed the labor between the tent of meeting and the altar and put water in it for washing. And from it Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet. When they entered the tent of meeting and when they approached the altar, they washed just as the Lord had commanded Moses. And he erected the court all around the tabernacle and the altar and hung up the veil for the gateway of the court. Thus Moses finished the work." Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting. We talked this morning about the connection, association of clouds with deity. Here's the divine cloud, the glory cloud of God. It covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And throughout all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the sons of Israel would set out. But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day when it was taken up. For throughout all their journeys the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and there was fire in it by night in the sight of all the house of Israel. Then the Lord called to Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying, Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them." This is the word of God. Please be seated. Now, our word Bible means the book, but it comes from originally the Greek expression ta biblia, which means the books. And it's certainly correct to call it the Bible because it is a unity written by one author, ultimately, the Holy Spirit, and unique in its accuracy, its authority, its inspiration is the Word of God. But in another sense, it is a library of various books. It had at least 40 human authors who wrote in three languages over a period of 1,500 years, and the books are very different. They wrote in different circumstances and situations. And among the various books in the Bible, it's inevitable that Bible readers should have some that are their favorites. My guess is that you have some favorite books of the Bible. Let me guess. The Psalms. Maybe the Proverbs with its practical work-a-day wisdom. Isaiah, with his majestic prophecy. In the New Testament, the Gospel of John is quite typically a favorite of God's people. Or the Book of Romans and its wonderful development of the Gospel. I don't know what your favorites are, but I bet that if you've read the Bible very much, you have favorite books. And let's be honest, isn't it also the case that we have some that are not our favorite books? Most of us have certain books that we really don't like to read and I just say as an aside This is one of the benefits of having some kind of a Bible reading plan whether you use McShane or something else Something that gets you regularly to read the whole Bible because if we don't have something like that we have a tendency to gravitate toward our favorite books and to ignore those that are not our favorites and the more difficult and I would guess that Leviticus probably, if we were going to list our books, our least favorite books, Leviticus would probably be on many of our lists, maybe even at the top with its long list of all these strange sacrifices and and ceremonies and so on. And what I hope to do as we study through the book of Leviticus is to change that. I hope that as we spend the next six months roughly together studying the book of Leviticus that during the course of that time you'll begin to have a different view And perhaps at the very least, it may be too much to hope that you'll add it to your favorites list, but I hope at least it'll get off of the least favored book list as we go through it. And for a number of reasons, it's inspired scripture. Remember when Paul said in 2 Timothy 3.16, all scriptures inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, the scriptures he referred to were the Old Testament. At that point, very little of the New Testament had been written, so he was using that language to describe the Old Testament. And so, this is part of that body of God's Word that's able to teach us and reprove us, to instruct us, to train us in righteousness. And our Lord Himself spoke of how the Old Testament Scriptures bear witness to Him. And so there are a number of reasons why I think this is a book worth our study. And tonight, all I want to do is very quickly to give you a brief introduction overview. Obviously, I only read one verse of Leviticus and Lord willing, next week, we'll take up the first chapter. But tonight, I want to give you just an introductory overview using the five W's that at least in times past every cub reporter was schooled in. If you were a reporter and had to write up a story, then you had to deal with who, what, where, when, why. And perhaps how, but I'm going to deal just with the W's and not the H tonight. So we'll use that as our outline. And you have that on the back of your bulletin. And so first of all, the question is, who wrote the book of Leviticus? And obviously, we believe the Holy Spirit inspired its writing. But its human author, I would suggest, is Moses. And that's why I read the first verse and stopped there. Notice, the Lord called to Moses. and spoke to him from the tent of meeting." Now the Hebrew title, the titles of the books in the Hebrew Bible are often different than our English titles. Our titles are typically taken from the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, or from the Latin translation, the Vulgate. And they often deal with subject matter or topics. Leviticus means things concerning the Levites or the priests. And we'll see that a lot of the book relates to that. But the Hebrew titles are often the very first words of the book. We do that with poems and with hymns. I mean, have you ever noticed, if you pay much attention, most of our hymns, not all, but most of our hymns are really just the first, the beginning phrase, all hail the power of Jesus' name. We just sang that tonight. Amazing grace, amazing grace, how sweet the sound, over a thousand tongues. And the Hebrews often did that. So the name of this book in Hebrew is literally, he called and he called. It's from the very first words here, the Lord called to Moses. And so we see here, God himself speaking to Moses and it's been said that Leviticus contains more of the words of God literally. Now it's all the word of God. But in Leviticus, we have God himself speaking directly more than any other book of the Bible. And so what we have here, and it's been calculated that 56 times in these 27 chapters, we are told that God imparted these words to Moses. So I would suggest that itself is an important consideration as to why we ought to study it. and traditionally the Jewish people and Christians really until probably the 18th or 19th century when the view of the Pentateuch was challenged that the five books of the law were written by Moses. Jews and Christians have all traditionally accepted the fact that Moses was the human author of these five books including the book of Leviticus. Jesus himself bore testimony to that. And you can look, if you want to look at the whole Pentateuch, you can look at his references to various books, Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. But, for example, in Matthew 8, when a leper came to our Lord and knelt before Him saying, Lord, if You will, You can make me clean. And Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him saying, I will. Be clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus said to him, See that you say nothing to anyone, but go show yourself to the priest and offer the gift or the offering that Moses commanded for a proof. And he's referring there to Leviticus 14, the first four verses of Leviticus 14. And Jesus specifically says that it was Moses. God speaking through Moses, who commanded that when lepers were healed or cleansed, there was a certain provision for their ceremonial cleansing and offerings that they were to offer. So here's a specific testimony, apart from the others referring to other parts of the Pentateuch, having to do with the book of Leviticus. And, just as an aside, we know there are some ancient religious records, and there are interesting parallels to some of the sacrificial provisions in some of the ancient literature in northern Syria, the Ras Shamra tablets that have interesting parallels here. It seems to be set in the time. Now, the critical, the higher critical view is that the Pentateuch wasn't really put into its final form until around the 5th or 6th century before Christ, and long after the time of Moses, if Moses even lived at all. And yet, from what we know from these archaeological comparisons, there are remarkable similarities between those non-Christian, non-Jewish religious systems and some of the provisions here. So in its context, in terms of culture and history, it's fitting in the time of Moses, about 1500 BC, just for round numbers. And so, all these things, I think, bear out the fact that the writer of Leviticus was Moses, who recorded, by divine inspiration, these words that God spoke to him. And it's interesting, well, I'll wait and go on to my next point, and that is, when and where was Leviticus written? Now, I had to start in Exodus 40 because I wanted to underscore the close, in fact, the seamless connection between the two books. These words were spoken by God to Moses at Mount Sinai. Again, they have just constructed the tabernacle, and we're told here that God spoke to him from that tabernacle. The Hebrew construction here is what's called a valve consecutive. It's a very common construction in Hebrew narrative, where you're writing a story or a historical account, and it's the beginning of a sentence with a certain letter that's a conjunction that joins it with what happened beforehand, and that's the way this book begins. It's directly a follow-on from the previous book. Moses wrote at Mount Sinai where God had brought his people and after they had formally become his covenant people and built the tabernacle then God begins to give more instruction as to how they are to live with him how the tabernacle offerings and so on are to function. So I think it's a very significant matter that these words were given to God, given to Israel by God in the shadow of Mount Sinai just after the tabernacle was completed. And you get a number of references here. In 25 one, the Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai saying, speak to the people of Israel and say to them when you come into the land. And so we have, we'll see there, that's the year of Jubilee that God is giving instruction about. Leviticus 26, toward the end of the book, these are the statutes and rules and laws that the Lord made between him and the people of Israel through Moses on Mount Sinai. So God is speaking. to Israel through Moses at Mount Sinai. This is part and parcel of what God is doing to constitute His people, His covenant people. So that's who wrote it. Moses probably wrote these down and may well have edited them before he died. He's commanded in Exodus to record certain things. We're told in the book of Numbers that he wrote down and kept a journal apparently as they journeyed around through the wilderness. And so he may well have taken written notes And I've told you before that one time it was popular to say that Moses couldn't possibly have written these things because they didn't have writing. Moses didn't know how to write. Well, subsequent discoveries have shown that they did, in fact, have a number of writing systems. And Moses, raised with all the learning of Egypt, no doubt had It was exposed to several of them. And so he may well have taken these things down and then perhaps edited them and put them in their final form before he died. But written by Moses, given by God at Mount Sinai, and when? Well, you remember in Exodus 12, where we find the Passover, God told his people, this month shall be for you the beginning of months. It should be the first month of the year for you. This was Exodus 12-2. When they had the original Passover, God said, this month is going to be for you and your religious calendar, this is going to be the beginning of the year, the first month. We read in Exodus 40-17 a minute ago, in the first month, in the second year, on the first day of the month, the tabernacle was erected. So apparently it took a whole year. For them to come out of Egypt, to cross the Red Sea, they spent some time in the wilderness, you remember, until they finally got to Mount Sinai. Then they went through what we have recorded there, and God revealed what was to be made in the way of the tabernacle, and then they actually made the various parts. It's taken a whole year. And on the first day of the first month of the second year is when they erected the tabernacle. You're following me so far? I don't want to lose you in the detail, but basically this is the first day of their second year that the tabernacle is actually put together and the glory cloud comes down, God dwelling among His people. Now the book of Numbers which begins at Mount Sinai. It doesn't end there, but it begins at Mount Sinai. It says, the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai in the tent of meeting on the first day of the second month in the second year after he'd come out of the land of Egypt. So this is a month later. Exodus 40, they erect the tabernacle on the first day of the first month. Numbers begins on the first day of the second month. And presumably, it was during that month in between. that God had given these revelations to Moses, the first month of the second year of Israel's redemption that God had revealed these things. And depending upon when you think the Passover occurred, again, it was roughly, or the Exodus occurred, I'd say roughly 1500 or 1450 BC. So, written by Moses, spoken by God, recorded by Moses in the shadow of Sinai in the first month of their second year of redemption. Now, why? Why did God give all of these laws? It's 27 chapters, and again, the thing that often makes it difficult to read is all these laws and ceremonies. Well, you remember, God Himself is holy. In Exodus 15, after God had parted the Red Sea and brought the children of Israel out and allowed the sea to destroy their enemies, there's that song of deliverance. And Exodus 15, 11, who is like thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like thee, majestic in holiness, awesome in praises, working wonders? The song there, Moses' Song of Liverance says that God is unique and majestic in His holiness. And Mount Sinai, everything that happened there was meant to impress that upon the people. The fire, the smoke, the earthquakes, the law. Remember, they were told that if anyone or anything touched Mount Sinai, they were to be killed. If one of the sheep or goats wandered up and touched it, they were to be killed. They spent three days washing, preparing, cleansing themselves for their wedding ceremony to this God. It was all intended to underscore the holiness of this God into whom they were about to enter formally covenant to be His people. And as part of that process, they were to be a holy people. This is Exodus 19.4. They're at the foot of Mount Sinai and they're just about to go through the ceremony where they will offer sacrifices and the representative elders will go up and eat a covenant meal on the mountain with God and then He'll give His covenant law. God says, "...you yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession, my special treasure among all the peoples, for all the earth is mine. And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." these are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel." And so he says here, what is going on here is you're about to formally become my covenant people and part of that is to be a royal priesthood and a holy nation. And so in the book of Leviticus, and God had begun to do that in Exodus, but in the book of Leviticus, he's giving further instruction as to what it means to be the covenant people of a holy God, what it means to be holy, in a nutshell. And this relationship is underscored and is repeated frequently in the book of Exodus. I'm just gonna give you a few examples. I'm sorry, I said Exodus, I meant Leviticus. Leviticus 11.45, I'm the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy. 19.1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel. Say to them, You should be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy. 20.7-8 Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. Keep my statutes, and do them. I am the Lord who sanctifies you, and makes you holy. Now I could go on. I've just given you three. There are lots of these references. This idea is throughout the book. God is holy. And the people who are in covenant with Him are to be holy as well. And that's why He's given us this book. So Leviticus was written for that purpose, to show the people of God what it means to be in covenant and how to live in covenant with a holy God. So, we've talked about who wrote it, when and where, and why. Let me say just a word here about what Leviticus teaches. Now, we're going to spend the bulk of our time on that, so I'm going to do this very briefly. And you can divide the book in various ways, a series of holiness codes that deal with different things. But probably the best way is to just divide it into two major sections. The first section is the first 17 chapters. And the first 17 chapters deal with sacrifices as necessary for approaching a holy God. Because God is holy, it requires sacrifices of various kinds to approach Him and to live in fellowship with Him. And so we'll see in the first 17 chapters especially a great deal about sacrifices of various kinds. And then 18 to the end of the book, in chapter 27, deals more with the subject of sanctification or practical holiness. The first part deals with ritual, a ceremonial holiness through sacrifice. And the second part focuses more on personal or practical holiness or sanctification. as a necessary element for an acceptable walk with a holy God. And so, just briefly, if you think of those two sections, I think you'll have a good handle on the big picture. The first part, focusing more on ritual holiness through sacrifice, and the second part, personal practical holiness. So, that's all I'm going to say about what it teaches. Let me just end with a couple of applications, and then we'll be done. What does this have to do with me, you might be asking? I mean, this is 3,500 years later. I don't live in the Near East. I don't have to offer animal sacrifices. I don't have to keep the dietary laws that God gave to the Jews. Why in the world do I have to spend or waste my time reading and studying this book? It's a great question. Let me suggest just a couple of answers. First of all, again, as I said, this is part of inspired scripture. We're told it's profitable for a number of things, but more specifically, God is the same now as He was then. God is the same Holy God under the New Covenant that He was under the Old Covenant. And we think often of Isaiah 6 and that vision Isaiah saw in the temple with the cherubim saying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts. Well, in Revelation chapter 4 and verse 8, you get almost the same language. As John sees the throne room of heaven, he sees the angels worshiping him, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and is and is to come. And the New Testament stresses as much as the old, the fact that God is holy. I am the Lord, I do not change. And so He is no less holy now than He was then. And as Christians, you and I are called into covenant fellowship with Him and are also called to be holy. In fact, Peter quotes from this language in 1 Peter 1, 15 and 16. Writing the New Covenant Christians, Peter says, be holy yourselves in all your behavior because the Lord has called you, the Lord who has called you is holy. And he quotes, you should be holy for I the Lord your God am holy. So we're in fellowship with the same God of holiness. And that covenant relationship includes a call for you and me to be holy as well. And so, in that sense, it's very relevant to us, even under the New Testament. And although it doesn't apply in the same way, and as we go through that, we'll see that. Our confession of faith in chapter 19, paragraph 3 says, besides the moral law, God was pleased to give to the people of Israel as a church underage ceremonial laws containing several typical ordinances, that is, types, symbols, representing or anticipating things, partly of worship, prefiguring Christ, His graces, actions, sufferings, and benefits, and partly of diverse instructions of moral duties. all which ceremonial laws are now abrogated under the New Testament. But the point is, the Old Testament law, even though it doesn't apply to us in the same way it did, we don't have to offer these sacrifices. We don't have to follow the dietary laws and keep the same religious festivals and so on, and yet there are principles underneath and behind these things that are still very applicable and useful to us, as I hope to show you. So, it's true it doesn't apply to us in the same way, but in our day when too many Christians are ignorant of or indifferent to the whole matter of holiness, too many Christians, at least in the West, are a little concerned with what it means to be holy and a little convinced that they're in fellowship with a holy God, I think it still can be a very helpful book for us to study this subject of holiness, a word, again, that we'll see occurs again and again and again in the book. Fourthly, there is a great deal about the gospel and the New Testament rooted in the book of Leviticus and the matters it discusses. The book of Hebrews, for instance, one of the great books of the New Testament, draws and alludes frequently to the book of Leviticus and the different ceremonies here as it develops the ministry of Christ and the gospel. And so, in order to understand the New Testament and the gospel and the ministry of Christ fully, we have to have some knowledge of this. And so it's interesting how much gospel we can get out of this law. I think you'll see as we go through it in the weeks and the months to come. And then finally, I would suggest that there are very few books in either Testament, which when we read them in the light of the New Testament, are so full of Jesus Christ and so instructive about Him. Both our need for Him and His ministry, and the nature, the benefits, and the beauty of it. So reading and studying Leviticus is a great way to come to know and love Jesus Christ better. And I hope and pray that that will be the chief outcome of our study. Not only that you'll understand more about the nature and character of God as a holy God and And parts of the New Testament, like the book of Hebrews, will begin to make more sense. But supremely, that Jesus Christ will become more real and precious to you, and His saving work for you will make more sense as a result of studying this book. Now, I have to confess that there was a time when Leviticus would have been at or near the top of my least favorite list. In fact, I don't know, at least several times I set out to read the Bible. I think it was before I was converted and set out to read straight through the Bible, and I think I died in Leviticus several different times. But through the years, it's become, in some respects, one of my favorite books. And I hope that that may be your experience, too, by God's blessing as we study through it in the next six months or so.