Welcome to the Reading the Bible Daily with Dave podcast. This podcast is devoted to helping increase your daily exposure to God's Word with a short scripture reading and brief commentary on key ideas, themes, and theology in each chapter. Now please join your host, Dave Jenkins, for today's episode. Well, welcome back to the Reading the Bible Daily with Dave podcast. My name is Dave, and I'm the host for this show. And today is May 26, and today we're going to look at Leviticus 1.1. Now, just as a reminder, every day I read from one chapter of God's Word, and then I offer a brief explanation of key ideas, themes, and the theology in that chapter. My goal is to get you into God's Word for about 5 to 20 minutes every day, so let's look now at Leviticus 1.1. Leviticus 1.1 says this, The Lord called Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying, Well, this is our reading today from Leviticus 1.1. You know, the Lord has spoken so that we might believe, and that believing we might see. Our image-driven culture in the West operates as a Chinese proverb recommends. Hearing about something a hundred times is not as good as seeing it once, and so we often say, I'll believe it when I see it. We typically give priority to seeing over hearing. Home video cameras, surveillance cameras have caught events and broadcast them as part of our quote-unquote reality culture. Perhaps we are caught off guard by the Bible's picture of God who speaks before he shows himself. And so, at creation, God spoke the world into existence, and at Sinai, the Lord created the nation Israel by His commanding word. The New Testament tells us that faith comes by hearing, and this hearing fosters belief in those things not yet seen. Jesus commended those who had heard and believed in His resurrection, though they had not seen Him in John 20, 29. In Leviticus, it begins in a similar manner, giving priority to the word of the Lord in Leviticus 1, 1. And Leviticus continues the prior account in Exodus 40, 34 through 35 that describes the completion of the Tent of Meeting at Mount Sinai. Leviticus begins with God summoning Moses to hear His word spoken from the Tent of Meeting. And so what the Lord created at Sinai was a nation formed by a covenant relationship of trust. And He manufactured a home in their midst for His dwelling place that is the Tent of Meeting. In a word, he established a relationship with the slaves who had been incarcerated in Egypt. And so this relationship was based on the redemption that he achieved on their behalf by the blood of the Passover lamb. Salvation came before relationship. At the Red Sea, the Lord liberated his people from the Egyptian armies. Now, The tent of meeting was a portable tent. It was a transient epicenter of the world in the eyes of Israel, a movable ground zero so to speak, so that the focus of Israel's attention was always directed towards the tabernacle that was at the center of their lives wherever they moved about. The American life once made the fireplace or the hearth the vital center of family life where meals were paired and where the family enjoyed its light and its warmth. Now living areas and our homes have the entertainment center as a focal point. The hub of ancient Israel's national life was a tabernacle, the visual reminder of the presence of God. It was a vital center of Israel's experience and identity. And so before the people departed for their promised homeland of Palestine, or ancient Canaan, the Lord spoke from the tent. The book of Leviticus is essentially the message that God spoke to his people at that time in preparation for their departure. The teaching of Leviticus was both revelatory and regulatory. This message revealed more about their God and also regulated the relationship that he had established with them at the Exodus. And so, repeatedly in Leviticus, we're told that the Lord spoke to Moses. Moses was a mediator of God's word to his people. And unlike any other person, the Lord met with Moses. Numbers 12.8 says, With Moses I speak mouth to mouth clearly and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the Lord. And so, at Sinai, the mount was enveloped by a cloud that was identified as the glory of the Lord from which the Lord spoke to Moses. Now, the language that begins the book is an exact echo of God's revelation to Moses at Sinai in Exodus 24 16, which says, The glory of the Lord dwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day, he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. Moses actually entered into the cloud on top of the mountain, and remained there for forty days and nights, according to Exodus 24.18. And although the people saw the glory of the Lord, it was not a cloud of benevolent revelation for them, as we see in Exodus 24.17. In fear they distanced themselves from the mountain, as we see in Exodus 24. In the book of Leviticus, we discover that the people, however, gladly saw the glory of the Lord after the priest prepared the way by instituting the first sacrifices in the tabernacle. And Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting, and when they came out, they blessed the people, and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. And fire came out before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the pieces of fat on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces in Leviticus 9, 23 through 24. So, God has spoken that we might believe and that believing we might see. And so, the Lord delivered the covenant as we see in Exodus 20-24, instructions for building the tabernacle in Exodus 25-40, and the regulations found in the book of Leviticus at Sinai. The opening words of Leviticus assume the Sinai location and the book concludes with a special mention of Mount Sinai in Leviticus 27-34. The people resided on the mountain for about a year and a half. During the period, the Lord provided the regulations for worship and holy living in Leviticus across a month's time. The importance of Sinai for the setting of Leviticus shows the strategic magnitude of the revelation that God gave regarding worship and holy living. It was a site of revelation, of promise, and command. It was the first place where Moses encountered the Lord, and the place where the Lord gave Israel the two tablets of the Ten Commandments. Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7 had parallel significance for Christians. It was a place of revelation. Jesus painted the profile of righteous citizenship for kingdom citizens. However, the transfiguration of Jesus occurred on a mountain in Matthew 17, 1-8. And a cloud, too, rested over Jesus and his disciples, from which the Father spoke. Jesus' face and garments radiated the glowing majesty of God. Jesus, as the Son of God, embodied the glory of the Lord as truly God, as 2 Peter 1, 16-18 says. And so Israel associated Sinai with the majesty of God, whose presence shook the earth, and whose voice was like thunder in Exodus 19 and Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 4, 11-12. The smoke and the fire of God's appearance on the mountain forever marked the people the vision of God's blazing glory. Moses himself was utterly petrified with fear, but we who know the Lord Jesus have not come to Mount Sinai with trembling. Now the writer to the Hebrews declares that we who know Christ have come to the heavenly Mount Zion, the heavenly abode of all who have faith in the Lord as we see in Hebrews 12, 18-24. We have nothing to fear but rather have confidence in the eternal destiny to which our pilgrimage here on earth will lead. This heavenly citizenship was accomplished through the shed blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. And although the Lord was remembered for His revelation at the mountain, the people could not remain at the mountain if they were to receive God's provision of the Promised Land. The mountain was immovable. There were no more Sinai's along the desert trek. The Lord therefore furnished a portable Sinai, the tabernacle shrine, where God might reside among His people where He might lead them. And we're familiar with the advantages of portability in our high-tech society. For example, the popular computer-based iPad enables a person to carry on the small digital device up to 5,000 musical songs. So whenever that cloud that hovered above the tabernacle moved, the people knew to set off on another stage of the journey. And so, the regulations of Leviticus fit between the two descriptions of the movement of the tabernacle in Exodus 40, 36-38 and Numbers 9, 15-23. Those two passages are like bookends that highlight the portability of the tabernacle and also reinforce the importance of God's presence among His people. they were not to take one step apart from the presence of God. And so Moses met with God at the tent, and there received the assurance of God's word and God's presence. That the Lord's revelation to Moses was as authentic at the tent as it had been at Mount Sinai was shown in two ways. First, there was the correspondence between the three divisions of the tent, and the three circles of holiness that ascended to the summit of the mountain. The tent consisted of two rooms separated by a curtain. The inner room of the tent was known as the Most Holy and the outer was simply the Holy Place, as in Exodus 26.33. The third division was the courtyard that encircled the tent in Exodus 27.9. Correspondingly, at the peak of the mountain and the most holy place, the Lord spoke. And no one could approach God at the summit except Moses. And in the same way, only the high priest could enter into the most holy place. Below the peak was a cloud, to which Moses and the elders of Israel ascended. This corresponds to the most holy place, the room that the priest could enter to assist the high priest in his duties. Last was the foot of the mountain where the people stood. Here was the equivalent to the courtyard where the laity could enter for sacrifice and for worship. And secondly, the visage of Moses after speaking with God recalled his sojourn on the mountain. So, whenever Moses entered into the promised land, his face glowed brightly, as it had initially upon his descent from the mountain. His face reflected the glory of the Lord. And so the significance of the opening words of Leviticus is that God continued to speak although the 40 days of revelation at the mount would come to an end. The Lord continued to provide for his people regardless of their proximity to the mountain. By this perpetual presence among his people the Lord provided for his closeness between Him and Israel. This continuous presence of the tabernacle assured Israel uninterrupted provision and protection. Now, God has made the same provision for us as Christians, and yet in a more personal way. The apostle John drew on the imagery of the temple when he declared this in John 1.14, The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. Our Lord Jesus became flesh, the incarnate God, who made His tent among us. And by this habitation the Lord exhibited the glory of God. Whereas in the past God revealed Himself by means of dreams, visions, and the prophets, He has now shown Himself uniquely through the incarnation of His Son. Jesus is the very expression of God Himself, truly God, and truly man, as we see in Hebrews 1, 1-4. There is no option for Christians to include other religious figures on the same page as Jesus Christ. It cannot be Jesus and Caesar or Jesus and Mohammed. By becoming a human being, our Lord Jesus assured us as human beings of God's salvation for all who repent and believe the gospel. And so, if Leviticus teaches us anything, it is that the Lord God demands that only qualified persons can commune with Him. The Lord is the awesome, holy God who is unlike any other. It was long recognized that a go-between was necessary for men and women to relate to the Lord. It was at the risk of death that somebody transgressed the sacred space that God inhabits unless preparatory steps were taken to become fit to meet with God. God permitted Moses to speak with him face-to-face, and yet elsewhere, we learn that God prohibited Moses from seeing God face-to-face, like in Exodus 33, 20. The descriptive language that God met with Moses face-to-face must mean that the Lord's presence was with him. Moses could not look upon the essence of God by viewing His face. He could only see His back and survive. And yet, by His gracious mercies, God made it possible for the people to know Him despite their sinful condition as human beings. The chief mediator or safeguard between the Lord and the people was Moses, who was the mouth of God. Moses enjoyed a special relationship with God. And so, initially, the Lord made Himself available to Moses at any time from a special tent outside the camp. Well, progressively, Moses' access to God became limited once the tabernacle structure was built. Moses actually entered the cloud on Mount Sinai in Exodus 24, 18. But when the Lord took up residence in the tent of meeting, the cloud so filled the tent that Moses could not enter in Exodus 40. He received the word of the Lord while standing outside the tent. And it was from this position that the Lord gave Moses the beginning revelation and the regulations of the book of Leviticus in our passage today. Later, at the induction of Aaron and his sons, Moses' role became a transitional link to the established order of the Aaronic priests, who alone made intercessory sacrifices on behalf of the people. especially the ritual on the day of atonement restricted entrance to the most holy place to the high priest alone who was an exclusive descendant of Aaron as we see in Leviticus 16 11 through 14. Now Jesus was the second Moses who delivered the word of the Lord to God's people. And despite Moses' great stature as the quintessential prophet, he was not able to mediate the glory of the Lord perfectly. He failed the Lord through angry disobedience and was prohibited from leading the people through and into the promised land. Jesus exceeded even the great prophet Moses. Although Moses was a loyal servant, Christ was a faithful son. The divine Son Jesus is the very image of God, truly divine and truly human. He is the complete and perfect meat-eater. Jesus fully revealed the Father. The radiant glory that Moses faced shown was temporary, but those who gaze upon Him will experience the permanent transforming power of the glory of Christ. And those of us in the household of faith no longer stand outside the tent looking from afar. We are brought close to God through the sacrificial death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus performed flawlessly the vicarious death that removes our sin and reconciles us to God. So, the initial revelation that God gave Moses and Leviticus pertained to the steps necessary for Israel to receive the revelation of God's glory. The Lord had provided the tabernacle, but now there was need for the proper features of worship. Leviticus spells out the five sacrifices that God ordained for worship, including atonement for their sin. In fact, the Lord directed Moses to carry out the ordination of the priests who were to function at the altar where the sacrifices were carried out. After all had been done and revealed regarding the means of maintaining the relationship between the Lord and His people, the first sacrifices were performed by the newly consecrated priest Aaron and his sons. Aaron carried out the animal sacrifices for his own sins and then offered up sacrifices for the sins of the people. It was only after the proper place, the persons, and the offerings occurred that the Lord showed his approval of the worship offered by the people. By an amazing pyrotechnic display, God confirmed his presence and pleasure in Leviticus 9.23-24. The blazing fire came from within the tent, presumably from the Ark of the Covenant in the Most Holy Place, as in Exodus 40.21. It was a continuation of God's presence demonstrated at Sinai, where the glory of the Lord was previously seen as a devouring fire. The implication of the passage is that the fire on the altar became a perpetual flame fed constantly by the priest each morning and evening. So the prior seven days of ordination sacrifices, it ensured that the altar maintained a constant smoldering fire from the daily sacrifices. But on the eighth day, in a flash, the whole of the offerings were instantaneously burned up. By this the Lord approved of the intercession of Aaron, and the people responded gladly that by the means of the tabernacle structure, the animal offerings, and the ministry of Aaron, the Lord had indeed visited His people as He promised. At the incarnational appearance of our Lord Jesus, the glory of the Lord was found exclusively in Him. There is no other means by which we can behold the glory of the Lord. We have all sinned and thus failed to live in accord with the majesty and the glory of God, as Romans 3.23 says. So we must hear and receive the gospel, and once received, we behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. The enabling presence of the Lord in the life of Israel led them to the reward in the promised land by the radiant glory of the cloud. By the presence of the Lord in the life of the believer and the church today, we too will persevere in the knowledge and hope of our resurrected Savior, King, and Lord Jesus Christ, who has called us for a greater destiny, the eternal glory that is ours at His second coming. So today, hear, receive, obey, and see with the eyes of faith the glory of our risen Lord and King Jesus Christ. God has spoken that we might believe and that by believing we might see. Well, I want to thank you for listening or watching today's episode of Reading the Bible Daily with Dave. My name is Dave, and today is May 26, and we've looked at Leviticus 1.1. Until tomorrow, may the Lord richly bless you and keep you. Thank you for listening to today's episode of Reading the Bible Daily with Dave Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the show and rate us wherever you listen to podcasts. Be sure to also like, subscribe, or follow Servants of Grace on Facebook, Instagram, X, or YouTube. We appreciate your support.