Leviticus, part 1

1. Leviticus, part 1 “God is building you…into his spiritual temple.” (1 Peter 2:5)

2. Is this still relevant? • And he said unto me, after two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” (Daniel 8:14)

3. “Don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and who was given to you by God?” (1 Corinthians 6:19 GNB) • Hebrews • “I turned around to see who was talking to me, and I saw seven gold lampstands, and among them there was what looked like a human being… (Revelation 1:12-13 GNB)

4. What was the purpose? • “The people must make a sacred Tent for me, so that I may live among them.” (Exodus 25:8 – GN)

5. “For all time to come, this burnt offering is to be offered in my presence at the entrance of the Tent of my presence. That is where I will meet my people and speak to you. There I will meet the people of Israel, and the dazzling light of my presence will make the place holy…I will live among the people of Israel, and I will be their God. They will know that I am the LORD their God who brought them out of Egypt so that I could live among them. I am the LORD their God.” (Exodus 29:42-46 - GN)

6. So the Word became human and made His home among us.* He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen His glory, the glory of the Father's one and only Son. (John 1:14 NLT) • *”dwelt” - to tent or encamp, to “tabernacle” as God did in the Tabernacle of old, a symbol of protection and communion

7. “I heard a loud voice speaking from the throne: ‘Now God's home is with people! He will live with them, and they shall be his people.’” (Revelation 21:3 – GN) • “I saw no temple in the city, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.” (Revelation 21:22 NLT)

8. “As it is, however, the sacrifices serve year after year to remind people of their sins.” Hebrews 10:2 GNB)

10. “You do not want sacrifices, or I would offer them; you are not pleased with burnt offerings. My sacrifice is a humble spirit, O God; you will not reject a humble and repentant heart.” (Psalms 51:16-17 – GNB) • 1 Samuel 15:22, Proverbs 21:3, Psalms 40:6-8; 50:8-14; 69:30,31, Micah 6:6-8, Amos 5:21-25, Hosea 6:6, Matthew 9:13, Hebrews 10:2-7

11. “Here (Mount Sinai), by the manifestation of His glory, God sought to impress Israel with the holiness of His character and requirements, and the exceeding guilt of transgression. But the people were slow to learn the lesson. Accustomed as they had been in Egypt to material representations of the Deity, and these of the most degrading nature, it was difficult for them to conceive of the existence or the character of the Unseen One. In pity for their weakness, God gave them a symbol of His presence. ‘Let them make Me a sanctuary,’ He said; ‘that I may dwell among them.’ Exodus 25:8.

12. …Through Christ was to be fulfilled the purpose of which the tabernacle was a symbol--that glorious building, its walls of glistening gold reflecting in rainbow hues the curtains inwrought with cherubim, the fragrance of ever-burning incense pervading all, the priests robed in spotless white, and in the deep mystery of the inner place, above the mercy seat, between the figures of the bowed, worshiping angels, the glory of the Holiest. In all, God desired His people to read His purpose for the human soul. • …Thus in labor and in giving they were taught to co-operate with God and with one another. And they were to co-operate also in the preparation of the spiritual building--God’s temple in the soul.” (Education, 34-37)

14. Physical • Tabernacle in the wilderness • Solomon’s temple • Ezekiel’s temple in vision • Herod’s temple • Spiritual • “Jesus answered, ‘Tear down this Temple, and in three days I will build it again.’ ‘Are you going to build it again in three days?’ they asked him. ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple!’ But the temple Jesus was speaking about was his body. So when he was raised from death, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and what Jesus had said.’” (John 2:19-22 - GN)

15. The spiritual temple • “Come to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by the people, but he is precious to God who chose him. And now God is building you, as living stones, into his spiritual temple. (1 Peter 2:5) • “I will make those who are victorious pillars in the temple of my God, and they will never leave it” (Revelation 3:12).

16. “You, too, are built upon the foundation laid by the apostles and prophets, the cornerstone being Christ Jesus himself. He is the one who holds the whole building together and makes it grow into a sacred temple dedicated to the Lord. In union with him you too are being built together with all the others into a place where God lives through his Spirit” (Ephesians 2:20-22).

17. “Surely you know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you! God will destroy anyone who destroys God's temple. For God's temple is holy, and you yourselves are his temple” (1 Corinthians 3:17 - GN). • “Don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and who was given to you by God?” (1 Corinthians 6:19 - GN)

18. “For we are the temple of the living God! As God himself has said, ‘I will make my home with my people and live among them; I will be their God, and they shall be my people’” (2 Corinthians 6:16 - GN). • “We are his house if we keep up our courage and our confidence in what we hope for” (Hebrews 3:6 - GN).

22. Cleansing of the temple • “In this way he will perform the ritual to purify the Most Holy Place from the uncleanness of the people of Israel and from all their sins. He must do this to the Tent, because it stands in the middle of the camp, which is ritually unclean.” (Leviticus 16:16 – GN)

23. “On that day the ritual is to be performed to purify them from all their sins, so that they will be ritually clean.” (Leviticus 16:30 – GN) • “…and perform the ritual to purify the Most Holy Place, the rest of the Tent of the LORD's presence, the altar, the priests, and all the people of the community. These regulations are to be observed for all time to come. This ritual must be performed once a year to purify the people of Israel from all their sins.” (Leviticus 16:33-34)

24. “Seeing that that first tabernacle was a parable (a visible symbol or type or picture of the present age). In it gifts and sacrifices are offered, and yet are incapable of perfecting the conscience or of cleansing and renewing the inner man of the worshiper. (Hebrews 9:9 – Amplified) • “But, how much more will the blood of Christ make our consciences clean from dead human efforts, so that we can worship the living God!” (Hebrews 9:14 – The Great Book)

25. Symbols with meaning • Lamb - Jesus • High Priest – Jesus • Manna - Jesus • Daily Priest – Us • The lid over the covenant box – Jesus • Shekinah glory – the Godhead • Curtain – Christ’s body is the way through the curtain • Oil, fire, water – Holy Spirit

26. Blood

27. Blood • “I can guarantee this truth: If you don't eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you don't have the source of life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will bring them back to life on the last day. My flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.” (John 6:53-55 – GN) • Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood live in me, and I live in them…In the same way whoever eats me will live because of me. (John 6:56-57 GNB)

28. Blood “What gives life is God's Spirit; human power is of no use at all. The words I have spoken to you bring God’s life-giving Spirit” (John 6:63 – GN) “This is eternal life: to know you…” (John 17:3 – GOD’S Word) • The truth about God (his character and his principles) as revealed through the life and death of Jesus

29. “After they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph and said, ‘Herod will be looking for the child in order to kill him. So get up, take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you to leave.’” (Matthew 2:13 GNB)

30. Blood always cleanses – never defiles • “As Moses’ Teachings tell us, blood was used to cleanse almost everything...” (Hebrews 9:22 – GOD’S WORD) • “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.” (Hebrews 9:22 – KJV)

31. 3 sections of the tabernacle • Outer court • Holy Place • Most Holy Place • -------------------------- • Brazen altar – Bronze. In the outer court. The unconverted mind, yet willing to listen • Golden altar – Gold. In the holy place. The converted mind. • The covenant box – Gold, covered by the gold lid. In the most holy place. The sealed mind – settled into the truth about God (his character and his principles).

33. The outer court • The head of the household brought in a perfect lamb for sin • The lamb was examined and found to be spotless • The same man killed the sheep and the blood was drained • Blood was placed on the horns of the brazen altar • The lamb was then placed by the priest on the brazen altar

37. The brazen altar • The mind of the unconverted, yet willing to listen and willing the experience healing • Lamb – Christ • Horns of the altar • Fire – Holy Spirit • Organs – inner man/old man being burned up/transformed in character

40. The laver • “Moses, Aaron, and his sons washed their hands and their feet there whenever they went into the Tent or to the altar, just as the LORD commanded” (Exodus 40:31 – GN) • The man who brought the sheep followed the priest into the Holy Place by faith • What is done when one is converted? • Baptism – to indicate spiritual birth; believer • Jesus was baptized upon entering his ministry • “I am telling you the truth,’ replied Jesus, ‘that no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. A person is born physically of human parents, but is born spiritually of the Spirit.’” (John 3:5,6 – GN)

42. The Holy Place • Through the veil into the Holy Place • The veils separate us from God in the Most Holy Place. To go through the veil is to see more clearly • “However, their minds became closed. In fact, to this day the same veil is still there when they read the Old Testament. It isn't removed, because only Christ can remove it. Yet, even today, when they read the books of Moses, a veil covers their minds. But whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.” (2 Corinthians 3:14-16 – GODS WORD)

43. 3 objects in the Holy Place represent the key elements in the Christian life: • Table with showbread – nourishment in the word of God • Lampstand – a witness to the world about God • Golden altar with incense – the mind in daily communion with God

45. Table of Showbread • Made by the Priests • Eaten on the Sabbath day by the priests • Represents the word of God • “The LORD was teaching you that people need more than food to live--they need every word that the LORD has spoken.” (Deuteronomy 8:3 – CEV) • Bread assimilates throughout the entire physical being • The word of God when internalized also becomes a part of the person and results in a change of character

47. The Lampstand • “The buds, the branches, and the lampstand are to be a single piece of pure hammered gold. Make seven lamps for the lampstand and set them up so that they shine toward the front. Make its tongs and trays of pure gold. Use seventy-five pounds of pure gold to make the lampstand and all this equipment.” (Exodus 25:36-39)

48. “You are like light for the whole world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a bowl; instead it is put on the lampstand, where it gives light for everyone in the house. In the same way your light must shine before people, so that they will see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:14-16 - GN)

49. “Here is the secret meaning of the seven stars that you see in my right hand, and of the seven gold lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.” (Revelation 1:20 – GN) • “Tell Aaron that when he puts the seven lamps on the lampstand, he should place them so that the light shines toward the front” (Numbers 8:2 – GN)

50. “For this is the commandment that the Lord has given us: ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, so that all the world may be saved.’” (Acts 13:47 – GN)