Moses. Moses is also known as covenant law. And so it's appropriate, as we look at Moses, to go to Exodus 15. We'll look at Exodus 15 today, and I'll read through Exodus 15, verses 1 through 17, a very important part of the Old Testament, and particularly the Torah, or the books of Moses, or the Pentateuch, the five books of Moses. It is a real heart revelation. It's a central revelation of God and his redemption of Israel. There's so much we can learn in this. This is often referred to as what? Does anyone know? Exodus 15, verses 1 through 17 is known popularly as what? You remember? The Song of Moses. The Song of Moses. There's also another Song of Moses where? In the Pentateuch. Anybody remember where the other Song of Moses is? In Deuteronomy 32, there's another Song of Moses, and there's another Song of Moses at the end of the Bible. Isn't that wonderful? Another Song of Moses at the end of the Bible, where would that be? What book would you imagine that would be in? the book of Revelation. They sang the song of Moses. Isn't that wonderful? So this is a song of Moses in Exodus 15 verses 1 through 17. This is a heart portion or a very central portion of the Old Testament and of the Torah or the books of Moses particularly. Listen then to the word of God. Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying, I will sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously. The horse and His rider He has thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song. He has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will praise Him, my Father's God, and I will exalt Him. The Lord is a man of war. The Lord, Yahweh is His name, Pharaoh's chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea. The floods covered them. They went down into the depths like a stone. Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power, your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy. In the greatness of your majesty, you overthrow your adversaries. You send out your fury. It consumes them like stubble. You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed. You have guided them by your strength to your holy abode. The peoples have heard. They tremble. Pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia. Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed. Trembling seizes the leaders of Moab. All the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away. Terror and dread fall upon them because of the greatness of your arm. They are still as a stone till your people, O Lord, pass by, till the people pass by whom you have purchased. You will bring them in and plant them on your mountain. The place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established, the Lord, Yahweh, will reign forever and ever. Amen. That's called the Song of Moses, and that is central really to our understanding, not only the Old Testament, but particularly the books of Moses, the Torah, the five books of Moses. And it's important that we note that this heart portion, this central portion, of the Bible has much truth for us to meditate upon as well. So let's pray, and then we'll begin to look at that. This is the beginning of cycle three, which is a theological survey of the Old Testament. All right. Our Father and our God, we're grateful that you are Yahweh, the covenantal Lord, the Lord full of grace, full of mercy. We thank you that you have led your people in steadfast love and you guide us by your word and spirit. We thank you that you are the living God. You're the God who defends us from our enemies. You're the God who redeems us from our sins. You're the God who promises to never leave us nor forsake us. Oh, Father, we're grateful for the Lord Jesus, our shepherd greater than Moses, the one through whom you brought us from the cross to the resurrection in union with him, that we're seated with him in the heavenly places, safe and secure, heirs to eternal life. heirs to all the blessings and benefits of Christ Jesus, and already partakers of the heavenly powers of the age to come through the Holy Spirit. We thank you that we possess the Holy Spirit, or rather the Spirit possesses us, and we're not our own. We've been bought with a price. We're purchased people, no longer to live for self. So help us today to deny ourselves, to pick up our crosses, and gladly, joyfully follow you. keeping our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfect of our faith. Help us today as we look at these passages that they'd be rich with truth about you and help us to form a deeper relationship with you, Father, through the Lord Jesus and by the power of your spirit and all the people of God said, Amen. All right, keeping an eye on Exodus 15, verses 1 through 18. I want to look together at this passage, just a few moments to unpack some of the truths that are central to the Torah or the five books of Moses or Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. First of all, notice in the song. This song is sung, note the location of the song, it's sung on the other side of the Red Sea. It's sung after God in his power and grace has redeemed his people from slavery. And he's brought them out on the other side. Through a symbolic judgment, they have come out with no condemnation. Through a symbolic cleansing, they've come out as the people of God chosen by His grace for forgiveness. And note just a few things about this song, and I encourage you to meditate on it often. He sings particularly in verse 1, to the Lord, the covenant Lord who has triumphed. Our salvation is always ultimately the triumph of the Lord God on our behalf. He goes on in verse 2, the Lord is my strength and my song. He's become my Savior, my salvation. God is our Savior. God is a great and powerful Redeemer. And this draws out the praise of Moses and the people. Verse 3 says that the Lord is a man of war. Yahweh is a divine warrior that wars on our behalf. And Yahweh is His name. And then he goes on to say so many other things that he tells us about the defeat of the enemy and the great rescue, redemption of his people through the Red Sea. But we go to verse 13 and notice here more about the saving, redemptive love of Yahweh in verse 13. You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed. We, as those who have experienced and received God's grace and salvation, are those who are the redeemed. were those who have been bought with a price. In fact, we also see where he's guiding them. Verse 13b, you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode. And this would make all the nations tremble. Remember, there were at least two things that Israel was to do as a holy people before the world. They were to be a kind of holy magnet that would show the world, the nations, the unique love of Yahweh, the uniqueness of the God of Israel, and how powerful He was, how holy He was, how different He was from all the gods of the nations. And they were to show that not only in their faith, but in their works, in their in their living out as holy people that we'll look further today in Leviticus. But also they were to see and tremble with fear. They were to be those who saw the great power and salvation of Yahweh in such a way that they would repent and they would flee to him for salvation and to find refuge as one of the people of God redeemed by faith. You'll notice in verse 16, terror and dread fell upon them all because of the greatness of your arm. Until your people, O Lord, until your people passed by. And so here they are in this great work of redemption and salvation coming through the Red Sea to be God's people by faith. Verse 17, very important, you will bring them in and plant them on your holy mountain. The place, O Lord, which you've made for your abode, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established, the Lord will reign forever and ever. So there's three things that we can gather here in this passage that we don't want to forget. This is a central verse in the Old Testament. It's a central verse for studying the five books of Moses. The central chapter, central verses, Exodus 15, verses 1 through 18. And three things we draw from this that are very important. The first is 18, the Lord will reign forever and ever. We see that Yahweh is a king. And that's something that we have thought about as a people in cycles 1 and 2, that Yahweh is king. The second thing we note is that he, verse 13, has led them particularly through steadfast love. That's covenantal love. So the second thing, the second very important thing is covenant. So king and covenant. The third thing that's repeated at least twice, for emphasis, is that 13b, you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode. to your holy abode. And then, verse 17, you've planted them on your mountain, the place of your abode, the sanctuary. So, the three things that we should remember when we are studying the books of Moses, particularly, and all of the Old Testament in general, are three themes that are here in this passage. King, covenant, and tabernacle. King, covenant, and tabernacle. Three biblical theological themes you'll see throughout the scriptures. King, covenant, steadfast love, and tabernacle. All right? So King, covenant, and tabernacle. We'll do it right here. Exodus 15, verses 1 through 18. King, covenant, and tabernacle. Tabernacle is God's abode. It's the place of His dwelling. It's the, I will be your God and I will dwell with you. It is the Emmanuel principle that I am with you always. It is, I am the God who is with you. I'm Emmanuel, God with you. Alright? So whenever you see tabernacle, whenever you think about the abode of God, in the song of Moses, Moses wants us to reflect as redeemed people on three things from this song. And by the way, this song is sung at the end of the Bible in Revelation. So it shows you it's an eternal song. It's a song for all times, even for all eternity, to remember three things about God, that He's King, that it's through his covenant he's redeemed and that it is through a tabernacle that he's come to dwell in our midst. It's through a tabernacle, through an abode, through a special presence that he's made with his people through covenant. And so that is a very important heart of Torah, central really to Torah and of course to the rest of the old covenant scripture, okay? And let's ask, stop for a second, take a breath. When you speak of Torah, that's what we're studying, the five books of Moses, we're remembering Moses, the prophets, and the writings, okay? When we think of Moses, we're thinking of the Pentateuch, we're thinking of the five books, the first five books of the Bible, all right? When we think of Torah, that's another name for Moses. It's another name for the five books. What is Torah? What comes to mind when you think of Torah? Law. Law usually comes to mind. Law might be what you call a very literal interpretation. Most of the time when we talk about law or Torah, that's what comes to mind is law. And it's not incorrect. But I think it gets at it better when we see Torah as walking and talking with God. Walking and talking with God. There's actually two Hebrew verbs that are often used with Torah about walk before God and talking about God. We see that brought together in Deuteronomy 6 and 7, right? Deuteronomy chapter 6 and 7 there. You talk about God when you get up in the morning, when you go to bed at night, throughout the day, and you're to walk in his way. You're to walk in the fear of the Lord. So talking and walking with God. Talking and walking with God. So if we get that in the Torah definition, we're not wrong when we say law. But you see, the walking and talking with God emphasizes more of the freedom that we're given by God's grace. He sets us free not to put burdens upon us. He sets us free by His grace so that we will freely live for Him and walk and talk with God. Alright? Everybody clear on that? So when you think of Torah, think of walking and talk with God. There's actually two Hebrew words, halakha and hagadah, which are the two words. And you can see them throughout the Pentateuch in the original language. You can see them in a good translation, like KJV or ESV, the walking and the talking. All right. So walking and talking with God is what Torah means. Yes, sir. They had it in the garden. It is a return to paradise. Absolutely. It's a walking and talking with God as it was in paradise. It's a looking forward to that new paradise to come. Thank you. Very, very helpful. When we're talking about Genesis Deuteronomy, and now we're entering with fear and trembling this section, cycle three, right? There's 24 books and my notes, my class notes are already hitting about 174 pages. So here's what we're going to do. We're going to do highlights. And then what I'll do is whatever we don't highlight in the time we're given, I will send you some of my notes. And then I hope they'll be useful. We won't be able to cover all of the books, but we will cover a large portion. We'll cover all of the books of the Pentateuch, most of the former prophets, some of the latter prophets, and most of the writings. How about that? All right, so let's pray that we can do this well and take what we can to form a deeper, better relationship with the Lord. Today, what I'd like to do is focus primarily on Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus, and then look at Numbers and Deuteronomy next time, all right? So if I was to summarize the three truths that I want to emphasize today, They would be Toledot. They would be Tabernacle. Those would be today. And then next time, Treaty. Treaty will be in our study of Deuteronomy. We're going to learn about Suzerain vassal treaties and the book of Deuteronomy. Very important, I think. So today we're going to study Toledot. tabernacle. And then next week, Lord willing, we'll look at treaty, which gets at particularly the book of Deuteronomy. Now, when we're thinking about Genesis to Deuteronomy, we have the books down by memory, hopefully. So the first book of the Bible is Genesis. And then what? Exodus. And then what? Leviticus. OK. And then what? Numbers. And then what? Deuteronomy. All right, so these next week, these today, by God's grace. Genesis to Deuteronomy, two memorable ways of summarizing the truths of Genesis through Deuteronomy that also help emphasize a primary theme that we just read, but also get at the progressive goal or plan of God. One, I could never take credit for either of these, so I think one is by Desmond Alexander, and another I've seen everywhere, and it's something I've made my own, but surely there have been many others before me who've come up with these two. The first one is from Paradise to Promised Land. You're getting at the trend of the book. It's eschatological in that from the beginning of Genesis, you're looking for how God's plan is going to progress through history from paradise to promised land. You might remember some of cycle two where we've looked at creation, fall, redemption, new creation, that sort of thing. All right, so we see that that's going in that way because the promised land, right, is related to and linked to what in the big story? Creation, fall, redemption, new creation. What's the promised land linked to? New creation, consummation, right? It's the fulfillment, partial fulfillment of the redemption part, but it's also pointing us forward to something bigger and better. Hebrews 11, remember? Verses 8 through 16, that Abraham saw Jesus' day. Abraham was looking forward not to an earthly city, not to mere earthly land, but he knew that land, that promised land was symbolic or a sign of a heavenly city. OK? All right. The second one is from slavery to sonship. And this will especially be emphasized in the book of Exodus, from slavery to sonship. And the way I would ask you to remember slavery to sonship is just the slavery, especially as it is revealed in Exodus, that there are people, the Lord's people, the heirs to his promise, who are enslaved and burdened and oppressed, and they cannot save themselves. And so God sends a mediator. One who in all outward appearance is meek and weak, but one who will be their deliverer. And by the power of God, he serves them by delivering them out from that slavery to sonship. And so when you think of Torah and walking and talking with God, think of sonship, because it's not just that they're saved from slavery, they're saved unto sonship or being a child of God. And being a child of God is one who walks and talks with God according to his word, by his spirit, you see? So from slavery to sonship, I think, is extremely helpful to emphasize throughout the Old Covenant and how Exodus 4, for instance, verse 23, where God speaks of Israel as his son. In Hosea 11, one, he says, out of Egypt I called my son. And so it's a sonship. Israel is his son. And now, just to say this for those who are on to this, that we have to keep in mind all times that we've looked at that distinction in Israel, right, between believing Israel and unbelieving Israel, between a general election of the people of Israel and a particular election for believers within Israel. You've always got to do that. Not all Israel is Israel, right? Okay. We, making that distinction, we always want to remember they are visibly, as the visible church, heirs of the covenant promises, as the visible church, and heirs of sonship by faith, okay? But not all Israels are Israel. So it's important to note that slavery to sonship and that wonderful love that God shows toward his people as a heavenly father, as a father, shows steadfast love. I think of Psalm 103. It reminds us that as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who love him, on those who fear him. What is the genre or the type of literature when we're talking about the Pentateuch? It's pretty easy, isn't it? Because all five books of this section are of the same genre. What would you call them? OK, they are historical. Important to note. Historical. This will be a hyphenated genre description. Historical, but more than that. Yeah, I love the hyphenated stuff, don't I? Yeah, absolutely. Historical narrative. And then there's one more important word to modify it. In fact, I'd put it first. Helpful. Helpful, but no. Oh, I'd be tempted to use it, make it an adjective. But let's do it this way. How about, OK, let's do it. I'll add another part, all right? So how about theological, covenantal, because I do like to use that word because it is so important. So theological, covenantal, historical narrative. And why is that emphasis on theological, covenantal, beloved? The history that's told throughout the Bible is an interpreted, inspired history. It's not just the brute facts. There's no free motifs. So anything that's written is written with a purpose according to God's plan. A free motif would be like an accident, you know, like the altar, whoops, you know, just that was in there, and he didn't intend that. We read literature like that, right? We think, wow, the author didn't intend that, but look at what he did, look at what he said, look at what he pointed to, that truth, that's really cool. No free motifs in the Bible, everything's according to the Spirit. So, as the Spirit works through men, they're giving a true history. That is, it's in space and time. It really, really happened in space and time, in this timeline, right? All right? And it is narrative. It's story, not song. Most of it. There are songs, right? Because we just read one. But mostly. Mostly. Narrative. And theological, covenantal just modifies the historical. That it is with a theological, covenantal purpose that this history is written. And you'll see that more in the prophets. Let me just hold off on saying more about that for time's sake. But when we get in the prophet, what we'll see is that the prophets are doing nothing but taking from the Pentateuch and preaching it and saying, as covenant prosecutors, you have failed the living God because of these reasons. Go back to Moses. The last words in our Protestant Bible in Malachi 4 are what? To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, but to go back and do the words of Moses. So that's an example of theological history. History has a purpose according to God's plan. And the prophets are all going backwards to Moses and writing the things that they are with a theological intent in mind, to reveal something about God and his people. So theological, covenantal, historical narrative, all right? Now, where was I? Oh, this is a good one. This part we get to work together on. Let's do this together. All right. So first, let's just look through the first three books of Moses. We're going to look at the Book of Genesis. And I invite your participation in this part. And then we'll look at Toledot, and we will look at Tabernacle as part of the class. But let's take five to 10 minutes of just going through and sketching a good idea of the primary truths that we learn in Genesis. You ready? Now, the Book of Genesis. How would you summarize the book of Genesis, anyone? How would you summarize it as a book? What would be the primary theme? Okay, a book of beginnings, excellent. A book of beginnings, a book of foundations, right? You could go with any of those, all right? What else? You can just take your note cards out, you can take your journals out and do this with me. If maybe you didn't happen to bring it today, bring those in the future. That's what this part of cycle three is going to be about, is when we're going over each of the books, I'm going to invite you to tell me what you learned about the books. A story of foundations, a story of beginnings, a story of first things. You think about it, there's a first couple. the first sun, the first garden paradise, the first sin, the first rainbow, the first fratricide, the first wanderer, the first covenant. Lots of firsts. All right. An outline. What's a simple outline of Genesis? What would you say? Simple outline of Genesis. Okay. Good. That's like a thematic outline. Very good. Creation. Say it again. Creation. Creation, fall, and promise of redemption. Good. Exactly. All right. Very helpful. Anyone else? Yes, sir. A very important creator-creature distinction. And while he is transcendent, he is still near. And while he is near, he's still distinct from his creation. And that's wonderful. There's no confusion between the creator and the creature or the creation. There's a beautiful, balanced, inspired, holy, spiritual, inspired revelation of God. God is both transcendent and eminent. He's far away and He's close. Isn't that wonderful? And yet He's distinct from, not confused with, His creation. He's not found in the creation, but through the creation. All kinds of very helpful prepositions get into this part. And as the transcendent one, He's still near. He's not too far away. All right, good. What else? Help me. You want to hear mine? Mine was the theme was created and called through covenant. Very similar. Created and called through covenant. And a very simple outline that I would encourage you to think about is just that we'll look at in Toledote in a moment is chapters 1 through 11 as part 1 and chapters 12 through 50 as part 2. Chapters 1 through 11 have primeval history. And if you think about the theology wrapped up in those 11 chapters, there's a lot embedded there, you know? It's surprising how much you're going to get out of those chapters, right? Chapters 1 through 11. Chapters 1 through 3 alone have a lot. But here are some of the theological themes you get out of the first 11 chapters of Genesis. Creation, culture, common grace. Creation, culture, common grace. Then Genesis 12 through 50 is nothing but a story about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, right? And what brings Israel through Joseph into Egypt? How do the Israelites get in Egypt, right? So how is God's plan partially fulfilled in bringing Abraham's children into Egypt and then sets the stage for God's great redemption. That will be, by the way, everybody's okay with this, everybody understand, very clear, Exodus is the cross of the Old Testament. So when the Israelites would think of the cross and the death and the resurrection, they would think of going down into the waters and coming up in resurrection power. So that is the death and resurrection. It's the cross, all right, that is That is the salvation story, the central salvation story of the Old Testament. So in Genesis 12 through 50, I would call this part covenant history, covenantal history, patriarchal history, covenantal patriarchal history. Put some hyphenations in there, you know. It's always helpful, right? All right. And the theology there would be primarily two things, call and covenant family, call and covenant family. And I want to just emphasize that covenant family again, because I'm going to get to the Toledot in a second. All right, the toll of it. So here are a few terms to look for when you're reading Genesis. When you're reading Genesis, I want you to notice a few terms that and I think are very encouraging. You'll see oftentimes bless and blessing. Of course, you'll see seed and offspring and you'll see land and earth. And those are the three promises made Abraham, right? The seed, the land, the blessing. You'll see a lot of that throughout Genesis. How would you say the triune God is revealed in Genesis? How would you say the triune God is revealed? And when I say the Triune God, I'm just saying, how is the Father, the Son, and the Spirit particularly revealed in Genesis? Okay, good. Absolutely. Creator. Excellent. Good. The Covenantal Lord, Chapter 12. Anything else? A loving Father. Absolutely. Absolutely. He really cares for his creation. He cares for his children, Adam and Eve, and gives them great redemption after they fall. What's the fall-in-condition focus? What's the fall-in-condition focus, the FCF, of Genesis? What's that? Rebellion. We are, by nature, rebellious against God. The summary statement that's made in Genesis 6 about being desperately wicked, sinful all the time, we're impetuous, we're unfaithful. And what is a practical experiential wisdom? What's a practical thing? How is Christ made known in Genesis, and then how would you live better because of your reading of Genesis? How is Christ revealed in Genesis, and how would you live better because of Genesis? Okay, good, absolutely. A priest-king that in this mysterious way serves God at Salem, the place that will soon be in history, Jerusalem. And he is the Jerusalem priest-king. And he's revealing to some degree David, who will become a priest-king to some degree according to the Order of Melchizedek. Really cool stuff, right? When we get into a few chapters from now in 2 Samuel. And Jesus Christ, the ultimate priest, according to the Order of Melchizedek. Very good. How else is Jesus Christ revealed? Always look for Jesus Christ in your application first. Insist that your pastors, your teachers, your elders tell you not how this changes your life first, but how it should point you to Jesus Christ and His beauty and glory first, and then how it might apply to you. But if there's time for only one, make sure Christ is known. Insist upon that throughout your lives. Young people, when you grow up, as you're growing up, insist upon that from your teachers, okay? Insist upon that, that Jesus Christ be held out to you as the most important, beautiful, glorious Son revealed one in Scripture. And, here it is, it's not as relevant sometimes to you So pray for hearts that are on fire for this gracious one, because you'll selfishly wait for something for yourself and just let the part about Jesus and his glory pass by you. You'll go to sleep on that part. It's true. The heart is desperately wicked in that sense, okay? Words of wisdom. Words of wisdom. Yes, ma'am. Yes. Genesis 3.15. The promise of the seed. The seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent. He'll be the dragon slayer, right? Amen. He'll bring the one. He'll bring the great salvation. All right. And how should we live? Just one thing and we'll move on. How should we live? How then should we live in light of Genesis? Yep. Absolutely. Yep. Yep. Sin desires to master us, and we have to be sober-minded and watchful. Sin desires to master us. Though we in Christ have been delivered from sin and its mastery, its rule and reign, we still know that, I hope you know, that sin still tries to master you. Each and every day you have to fight it. Okay? All right. That's great. Let's just leave it there. There's so many other things, but let's move to Exodus now. How would you summarize the book of Exodus? The book of Exodus. So many wonderful things we could say about Genesis, right? We could do a whole class on that. So every time we're moving on, it's trying to focus on what we've said and trust the Lord with it and go back and study it again some other time. Exodus. How would you describe the Exodus? Yes, ma'am. Okay. God's redemption of his people. Good. What else? Yes, sir. Okay. Sovereign salvation initiated by God. It's a salvation initiated by God and his power. There's no way that Israel could have saved themselves from that slavery. Okay. Yes, he does. Very good. Very good. It reveals a covenant of law where the people of God are taught how to walk and talk with God as if in paradise, as a new kind of paradise, actually, to put it better. Yes, ma'am. God teaches his people how to worship him. Excellent, excellent. So I summarized it this way, and it's neat to do it this way because you hear all of the things that we're saying, how they, I think they harmonize and they compliment one another. But the book of Exodus, for me, the theme was Israel's birth and sonship. Israel's birth and sonship. Israel is formally born, right, through the Red Sea, through the redemption and the Red Sea. They're formally born, if you will, It's a story of deliverance to be a holy nation of kings and priests. How might we outline Exodus, whether it be an outline, like a simple outline, numbered with chapters, or a thematic outline? How might you arrange that outline? Let me suggest this as an outline. Exodus 1 through 18 is freed from slavery. That's including the plagues and the full redemption of the passing through the Red Sea. God brings salvation to his people and judgment on his enemies through the Red Sea. Salvation for his people and judgment on his enemies. So, Exodus 1-18. Then, 2, Exodus 19-24. Exodus 19-24 is freedom to live by grace's son. Freedom to live by grace as sons. And when I say sons, I mean including all children of God. Sons. Freedom to live by grace as sons. That's where our Mosaic covenants reveal particularly. And then Exodus 25 to 40. That's a lot of chapters. What do you think is revealed there? Yes, sir. The pattern of worship. Particularly the tabernacle. The tabernacle. And I put for number three, chapters 25 to 40, freedom to approach God through mediator to worship. Through a mediator or mediators to worship. Freedom to approach God through mediator or mediators to worship. Okay? And so there's a perfect freedom that is revealed here. Now, let's do Leviticus, and then we will go to the two main points I want to get across today with Toledot and Tabernacle. Now, I want to just show you two things. You notice in our Genesis summary, it had to do, the primary thrust, the majority of Genesis is about a covenantal family. And that's going to tie to Toledot in just a moment. You notice that the majority of Exodus, at the end particularly, chapters 25 to 40, is about the way of worshiping God, and particularly the tabernacle. So that's the second thing I'm going to emphasize, Lord willing, in just a moment. But before I do, Leviticus plays an important part here with regard to more of the tabernacle. All right, more of the tabernacle. The book of Leviticus. How would you summarize the theme of the book of Leviticus? There's actually a verse in Leviticus that you could use to summarize Leviticus because that's exactly what it's about, the whole book of Leviticus. It's a B statement. Be holy. because I'm holy. That is the heart of the book of Leviticus, very important. And what I'd like to say is, based on Hebrews chapters 9 through 10, and not saying anything more at this point, but just to give you a highlight for next year, Lord willing, if you're going to take the New Testament Biblical Theology course, here's a little preview. The book of Leviticus is such a rich and very important book for the New Testament, for the coming of Christ. And one very important reason is the author of Hebrews uses it as one of his very important central focuses, or foca. It's because, and listen carefully, it's because Leviticus is the story of a theological, symbolic, typological shadow world of Jesus Christ and his worship. So Leviticus is a theological, symbolic, typological shadow world of Jesus Christ and his worship. We find in the New Testament these beautiful truths that the reason why Moses was to make the tabernacle exactly according to the pattern he was to receive on the mountain is because it was according to a pattern that was heavenly that Jesus Christ would ultimately fulfill. So you got this question in your mind, you go, there's a lot of stuff in the Old Testament that seems like it's reenacted by the Lord Jesus. But here's what I would say. Let me one step ahead, perhaps. Let's not say Jesus Christ reenacts it. Let's think and ponder the fact that all of revelation up to Jesus Christ is a reenactment of what God in Jesus Christ has already planned and purposed. That really changes the way you see it. It's not that Jesus is going, OK, I've got to fulfill this and I've got to fulfill that. No, it's that he seamlessly, perfectly, holy spiritually inspired as God-man, acts out the purpose and plan of redemption that has been, in a strange way, typologically in shadow form, being re-enacted throughout history to prepare the world. so that the story should not have been strange. Beloved, just one little thing that I often... it makes me laugh and then weep. When Jesus is talking with the Jewish teachers, in John 8, He tells them, you're enslaved and I have come to set you free. If the Son sets you free, you should be free indeed. And they get offended and they say, we've never been slaves of anyone. What? That's the whole gospel of the Old Testament is you were slaves in Egypt. What are you talking about at Passover time? What are you telling your children if you weren't slaves? It's it's crazy. It would be crazy if we just if we but when we step back and say, you know what? I'm a sinner, too. And it's just like me to forget that sort of thing. Forgive all that God's taught me over and over and over. Well, Leviticus, just for sake of time, how is God revealed? He's whole. What's our falling condition, Bocas? Oh, we need blood. We need atoning, propitiating forgiveness. We need forgiveness. We need the Lord to act on our behalf with a substitutionary lamb. We need blood shed to forgive us of our sins. And how is Christ revealed? Well, it's a reenactment in a shadow typological world of worship of Jesus Christ himself and what Jesus Christ will ultimately do in the fullness of time, not in a temple made with hands, not in a tabernacle made with hands, but in a tabernacle in heaven. Isn't that powerful? And so what does that mean for us? It means Jesus possesses all the holiness we need both to have a right standing before God. And you ready? You ready to have a right standing before God? That's what we call justification. And you ready to have the wall of sanctification. So both justification and sanctification are all found throughout the scriptures in union with Jesus. In fact, the righteousness that's given is through promise in Christ, in Torah, and the ability to walk and talk is by faith alone, in Christ alone, because of grace alone, in Torah. So when we say law, it's easy and it is right. It's not, I should say, it's not incorrect. But it means so much more than that, you see. And when we get that nuance, we unpack it a little bit, we go, oh, so the law of Moses is to make me realize I need righteousness that's not my own. But then it shows me the way to be righteous and walk in talk with God and to return to paradise even before I get there. So right now, we walk in paradise. All right. So let's do Toledot and then Tabernacle. All right. Did I take a deep breath? Any questions so far? Yes, sir. Yeah, probably. That's probably overstated what I said. Let's say it like this. That's very helpful. Israel was born with promise, wasn't it? Wasn't she? Wasn't he? The nation through promised Abraham, right? So let's look at, how about this? I think this might be a better way of saying it. Let's say it as the rebirth and sonship of Israel, because then that would tie us more typologically to regeneration in the New Testament and its symbolic value with regard to the water. All right. So let's change that. That's good. Thanks. This is overstepping. That was overstatement on my part, I think. Birth, let's say the rebirth from slavery to sonship. That's better. That's better. And rebirth to sonship. Yep, that's good. All right. Thank you. Anything else? Those are always very helpful, aren't they? So Toledote, beloved, I don't want to spend a lot of time, but it is what frames Genesis. There are 10 of these. Toledote just simply means generations. generations. And what does that point you to when you have thought about the main kind of idea of Genesis from chapters 12 through 50? What does generations then make you think of? Generations. Toledot is the Hebrew word for generations. And the statement that's found in Genesis is this one. These are the generations. What might that further teach you about Genesis? Genesis is a book of origins, a book of beginnings. It is in the name, Genesis, about generations, about genealogy. What might generations make you think of after we've thought about the themes of Genesis? It's about a family. It's about families. an elect family, a family that's made up of elect and non-elect, that God has chosen before the foundation of the world, and through whom Christ will come. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Always the covenant faithfulness of God in families when the families have failed. There's a lot of failure in Genesis. Well, why do I bring up Toledot? Well, this will be in my notes, and I'll pass this on. I may have already done that, but the Toledot, the generations, are the backbone of Genesis. There's 10 of them, and they begin in Genesis 2-4. These are the generations of the heaven and the earth. So it actually shows that the real purpose of creation is for the glory of God and for this family to be blessed by God. There's this link then between Adam and Abraham, and Abraham then to Christ, alright, in the big picture. So there's a link between Adam and Abraham through these Toledotes. So you won't miss that this is a kind of new Adam. Or Israel's a kind of new Adam. And because they're called to live in the promised land, you see, paradise to promised land, Israel's kind of like a new Adam going to live in a new paradise. The story will repeat itself, though. Like Adam, Israel will sin. But I'll go over the Torah, but there's 10 of them. They end with Jacob. These are the generations of Jacob in chapter 37. verse 2 all the way to the end of Genesis 50, 26. So what you have is you have this Genesis bookended, if you will. or structured with these 10 Toledotes or these 10 generations. And that should be where your mind goes thematically when you think of Genesis. Whether you're concerned about thinking about the creation or the fall or the call of Abraham, you're ultimately, if you're wanting to get to the author's purpose, which is Moses, and you're ultimately wanting to get to the mind of God, then you want to think, well, God has shown me very clearly this is about a family. It's about a covenant family. This is about generations. And it's about how they get into slavery, how God decrees them into slavery, ultimately, in order to redeem a people for himself. So the ultimate focus of Genesis is one of redemption. more than anything else. Even when you're reading the creation passages, they're showing that this all-powerful God, the only God, the true God, spoke by the word of His power into nothing in the space of six days, and all was very good, and it was all with the purpose of having and he would dwell with her ever. That's what Genesis is about. And the Toledot, which I'll send in my notes, you have a Toledot in Genesis 2, Genesis 5, Genesis 6, Genesis 10. So you've got Adam, and then you've got Noah, then you've got Shem, and then Genesis 11, Shem, then you've got Terah, then you've got Abraham, and then you have Isaac, and then you have Jacob. And so the Toledots tie together the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. All right. So Toledo is very important for understanding Genesis. Yes, ma'am. Absolutely. Wonderful. Absolutely. Amen. And I think an example of how we might even miss that is when we make the book of Genesis, we use it for other purposes that may be somewhat useful, but we miss the main point of Genesis, that he's forming a family by grace. And if we don't get that as central to our understanding, our reading, our interpreting, our teaching of Genesis, we're missing God's main point in Genesis, that it is about a relationship I'm seeking with fallen people, with sinners. And that's a wonderful segue, isn't it, into our final thing. Everybody take a deep breath. This is a lot of fun, this next part. The tabernacle, I think, is my favorite part. And I want to focus your attention on the tabernacle because the tabernacle is really the center. It is an important center of the Pentateuch, of the Torah. So if I'm choosing something to focus on in the first three books, Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus, it would be on tabernacles. Why? All right, good question. Well, you remember I said central to Torah and covenant is Exodus 15. That gives us king, covenant, and tabernacle, right? The abode of God, the dwelling place of God, okay? All right, so this is going to heighten that emphasis of relationship. So why does God bring Israel out of Egypt? He says it in Exodus 15, verse 13, and then verses 15 through 18. Why? Because He's going to rule over them. He's going to show them steadfast love, right? Are you ready? He's going to dwell in their midst. He's going to give them paradise again. Paradise is going to be there in the midst of Israel. And so Leviticus 16 is a very important heart passage or central to Torah and all of the Old Covenant. It is the Day of Atonement. Some have actually shown a pattern. that I'm not smart enough to pass on to you, but I'm aware of in more recent scholarship, where Genesis or Leviticus 16 is actually the apex in Hebrew, the apex, literarily speaking, of the Old Testament Bible. I'm sorry, of the Torah, of the Pentateuch. And it's actually to show and heighten the importance that in order to have the relationship with the King through covenant, there has to be propitiation. There has to be blood. Blood, propitiation, atonement. Oh, praise God. Amen? These things have to be for sinners to be able to approach God, for God to dwell with sinners. There has to be substitutionary atonement. And you can see how holy and central Leviticus would be, because it teaches the people how God makes them clean, how he makes them pure, and how he offers a sacrifice for every sin they could possibly imagine, other than this one. You can't be hard-hearted and unrepentant. And yet, Israel often is, and so are we. And by God's grace, He gives us grace to repent, to say, I'm sorry. Please forgive me. And He's always faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But if His revelation, His truth, His Scripture doesn't draw us by faith to that humility and we stay in an unrepentant state, there's no hope for us. We've trampled upon the blood of the Son of God. So with that said, I want to share with you seeing the tabernacle. You have a handout. I want to look at that with you. And we won't get to look at it entirely. But I want you to look at the one with the, if you would, please look at the handout. You bring it back next week if you can. Put it in your notebook. But look at this one. You see this one? Handout number one. Let's try to spend five minutes on this, and then we'll take questions and dismiss, okay? And whatever we can't get today, we'll do next week, Lord willing. What I want you to see something is the layout of the tabernacle. All right, if you take this first, what you want to see is the tabernacle is God's abode. It's what Exodus 15 is teaching us. It's God's dwelling place. In the back of the Holy of Holies is, all the way to the back in the Holy of Holies, is the Ark, which is the throne of God. The Ark, which is the throne of God. And the throne shows you that the king, here's the king, he may be approached. He may be approached. All right? Everything leading up to that throne, though, also teaches visually that he is a God who's established a covenant of steadfast love to his family so that they can approach him. In other words, he's shown them grace through covenant. And the tabernacle is to show them the direction of how to come to him, and it's always through humility and blood. And it's not just externally. That's why I'm saying, I'm stressing that from the heart, Israel, if they were truly going to approach God, they had to come with humility before His holiness, before the Holy King, and they had to do so, all right, with blood in the way that God required it of them as He lays it out in Exodus, at the end of Exodus, and particularly in Leviticus. So again, that's what we're doing here is we're looking at a the heart, right, or what's central to the first three books of the Bible. There's a family, and this family is blessed, Toledot, all right, to have God dwell in their midst. He's the king, and he's the covenant maker and the covenant keeper, and he tells you that he will dwell in your midst. But you have to come to him on his terms. And here's what it is. If you notice, it starts when you come into the outer court. This is called the outer court. You come to a bronze laborer immediately reminding us that we need a sacrifice in our place to approach the king. That's what Leviticus is telling us. That's why the tabernacle is given in such detail through chapters 25 to 40 of Exodus. It's so that the people can see and understand that the first thing they need to think about in approaching the king through covenant is to bring blood that's not their own, substitutionary atonement. The second thing they can hope for is water, purification, cleansing. The book of Leviticus is full, pardon the pun, of a cleansing water, of how to be cleansed by faith, by God. And then they're able then to enter into the temple, the holy place of God, God's earthly palace. God's earthly palace. Isn't that cool? And having God's earthly palace there makes that a paradise, a place of paradise, where the people through blood can walk and talk with God. All right, now look on the inside. As Leviticus says, now look on the other side, on your other sheet, your second handout, and notice the tabernacle. you come to the altar again, you have to have a sacrifice. It tells us that we must be cleansed. We must be pure in His sight. And then we can go in. And look, as we're going, we're going west. As we're going, we're going west. And as we're going in, on the right side is the table of showbread. That reminds the people of God that He's with them there. On the left side, Or the south side is a light that's always burning with oil to show God's sustaining power through his Holy Spirit, to show that God's always there to illuminate their understanding and their hearts by faith, to show that spiritual work that's needed. Then there's the altar of incense where we have a place where what is symbolized as the prayers, or the link that we make to the presence of the King is made through this altar of incense. And as Leviticus 16 says, only one, the high priest, only once a year on the Day of Atonement, Leviticus 16, can go into this holy place as mediator on behalf of all the people and offer blood. for all the sins of the people. And so what happens is you go inside this holy place, not on your own, but through a mediator God's provided. And in there, you have the blood shed on top of the ark. And there are two things that are symbolized there on that ark. That blood symbolizes your breaking of the covenant because the law is in that ark. that we'll look at more fully in Deuteronomy. The law is in that ark. The law that shows you the perfect freedom and yet also reveals your sin is in that ark. And so that blood is on the one hand expressive of your need of cleansing for your law breaking. On the other hand, you're at the very, number two, you're at the very footstool of God. This is God's throne room. This is God, if you will, imagining him with his holy feet on earth. This is the intersection between heaven and earth. And that blood is being shed there so that you, so that I, so that all believers. There are always three steps to approaching God that's revealed in the Pentateuch. There's three steps revealed. It's microcosmically revealed in Moses. The first step is the burning bush, God revealing himself. There's Sinai, God revealing his law. And then there's tabernacle. When you see the tabernacle, here's the most holy place. And here's the holy place. Here's the entrance. Here's the purification waters. Here's the altar for the sacrifices. This is called the outer court. Step one. This is called Holy Place, step two, and this is called Most Holy Place, step three. So as Moses went from burning bush to Sinai to tabernacle, leading the people as mediator, so it's interesting to note that there are three There's three steps to remember that are being taught in the Pentateuch as approaching God. There's those on the outside. There is the coming in stage, the second stage, and the third stage. Now, what's interesting about this that I think is helpful to keep in mind is if you remember in creation, there are three places revealed from man's perspective. There's the sky or the heavens. There's the earth. and there's the seas. And when there was the preservation of paradise on Noah's boat, there was one, two, three levels, again, representing sky, earth, and seas. At Sinai, there were three locations, like the burning bush and coming closer to God. There was the place for all the people at the foot of the mountain. There were the place in second for the priest and the mediator, and then there was a place only for the mediator at step three. And so God was teaching throughout the Pentateuch that the way into the most holy place, the way into his kingship, the way into his most holy abode is through blood by a mediator. And beloved, I know that something very helpful to think about is when Israel leaves Sinai, they basically take the mountain with them. The mountain falls down, if you will, and becomes the tabernacle. Because the mountain was the place they would go up to the heavenly places through the mediator, through Moses. We'll look at this more next time. I'll leave you with those thoughts, but I can't leave you without telling you about Jesus. What did he do? Well, John 1.14 says something beautiful, that the word that was with God and the word was God tabernacled amongst us. He became man. He became one of us. He revealed all the beauties and glories of God's blessings in the holy place. He was the light of the world. He was the one full of the Holy Spirit. He was the bread of life. He was the one who for all and purified His people through water. And He's the one who went into the most holy place, not in a place made with hands. And all of this was is revealed in the Pentateuch. It's powerful. And so I would just say to you that if you want to meditate on those three steps, the three steps, the three parts to getting to the Lord, it's always through Jesus Christ. So so so to to emphasize again today, we looked at Exodus and Leviticus 16 as a summary, if you will, or the central teaching of Genesis, Exodus and Leviticus. We know that there's a king and his name is Jesus. We know that he's ultimately the climax or consummation of the covenant. And we know he's tabernacled in our flesh and he's fulfilled all that we need to appear before God, robed in his righteousness and filled with his spirit to walk and talk with God in a new creation. Good stuff. Very powerful stuff. Very powerful stuff. And that's all in the Lord Jesus. Let me read to you a couple of verses to remind you of Exodus 15 again. Verse 13 and then 17 and 18. Let's close with these verses. Would someone volunteer to pray for us? Will you pray for us, honey, after I read the scriptures? Yes, ma'am. Okay. Exodus 15, 13. You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed. You have guided them by your strength to your holy abode. Verse 17, you will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain. You see, this is symbolic. The mountain and the tabernacle, the abode are very similar things. You'll bring them in and plant them on your own mountain, the place, O Lord, where you've made your abode, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established. The Lord will reign forever and ever. Amen. That also makes us understand a little bit more, doesn't it, beloved, that why we call Zion a mountain, and why the Lord Jesus at the height of his ministry appeared on a mountain, to show us that the way to God is given on mountaintops throughout the scriptures. All right. So, Elizabeth, would you close us with prayer, sweetie? Thank you.