In the first chapter of Leviticus,
from verse 1, we read the following. And the Lord called unto Moses,
and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation,
saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them,
If any man of you bring an offering unto the Lord, he shall bring
your offering of the cattle, even of the herd and of the flock. And if his offering be a burnt
sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish.
He shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of
the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord. And he shall
put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering, and it shall
be accepted for him to make atonement for him. And he shall kill the
bullet before the Lord, and the priests, heir and sons, shall
bring the blood and sprinkle the blood round about upon the
altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And the Lord called unto Moses
and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation. This book, the third book of
Moses called Leviticus regarding the Levitical priesthood and
the sacrifices they should offer and the manner in which the sacrifices
should be offered. It's not always the easiest of
books in the scriptures to understand. There is a certain repetition
to the instructions regarding the sacrifices. And there is
detail to the instructions. Detail regarding how the sacrifices
should be slain and cut up and burnt and offered. All of which is full of meaning. But meaning which naturally speaking
is not easy to be discerned. And yet in these instructions,
in these sacrifices, in these instructions to the Levitical
priesthood, this is a book which is full of the priesthood, full
of sacrifice, full of the need of sacrifice, full of the state
of man as sinners separated from a holy God, full of the presence
of God within the tabernacle. This is a book full of redemption,
forgiveness, the propitiation of the wrath of God, full of
judgment, wrath. peace, sin, salvation. This is a book in type and figure
and symbol which is full of the gospel. It shows us the richness
of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ when he came into this world
to save sinners. and laid down his own life and
suffered upon the cross as a sacrifice, slain upon an altar. When God
took his son and nailed him to the wood and made him to be sin
and laid upon him the sins of his people, and poured out his
judgment and wrath upon him. God fulfilled all the types and
figures that we see portrayed in this book of Moses. He answered
every demand. He answered every requirement. He followed every instruction. He performed every duty. And God as both priest and sacrifice,
shed the blood of His own Son, shed the blood of the Son of
God, shed the blood of God, and offered Himself in Christ as
a sacrifice for His people. Yes, in this book we have the
Gospel in all its depths and all of its riches. There is this
great focus on the death of the sacrifice and on the bloodshed
and on the sprinkling of that blood and on the propitiation
of the wrath of God which burnt against the sins of his people and on the approach of that people
into the holiest of holies into the holy place as the priest
took the blood of the sacrifice and went in on their behalf and
sprinkled it upon the mercy seat and came out unto them again
as a demonstration that all is well this is a great focus on the
death of the sacrifice and the offering of that sacrifice and
the need of the sacrifice because of a people separated from their
God by their sin by their rebellion and by his wrath which rightfully
burned against it which is why this book starts where it starts
which is why this book starts in verse 1 in the manner in which
I have read. And the Lord called unto Moses
and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation,
saying, Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them,
If any man of you bring an offering unto the Lord, He shall bring
your offering of the cattle, even of the herd and of the flock.
If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a
male without blemish. He shall offer it of his own
voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation
before the Lord. The Lord called unto Moses and
spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation. out of the
tabernacle. You see there's a great gulf
between man and God. A great gulf which has been brought
in because of man's rebellion and man's sin. When Adam was
created, when Eve was created, When God made man upon this earth,
he walked with man in the garden. He walked with Adam in the garden. He talked to Adam. There was
communion, there was union. God walked with man on this earth. But God gave Adam an instruction,
eat of all the trees of the garden. have all that I've given unto
you, live freely, only don't eat of the fruit of the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil. One restriction, and yet
through the enticement of the serpent, through the woman, the
man fell and did the one thing, His God had told him not to do. And in so doing, man turned against
his maker. In so doing, you and I turned
against our maker. In so doing, we said through
Adam, our forefather, as a race, we will not have this God to
rule over us. We will do as we will. We will do all that we will and
we will not be told what we can and cannot do. And we set our
own will and our own desire and our own glory over and above
that of our Maker, over and above that of our God and Creator. The scale, the vastness of Adam's
rebellion cannot be overestimated it seems on the face of it that
all he did was break one commandment but that commandment is symbolic
and the breaking of that commandment is symbolic Adam would not ultimately
bow to the commandment of God now it came about through the
subtle enticement of the serpent through the woman and through Adam's love of his
wife and his desire to protect her and to take responsibility
for her and for what she did so as she was led astray of the
serpent he as a consequence fell with her He took as it were her
sin and fell in the same rebellion. And the serpent knew how to get
at the man through the bride. And Adam suffered for the foolishness
and rebellion of Eve. And in so doing was a figure
of Christ who would ultimately suffer. for the sin and the rebellion
of his bride, his people. Yet that action of Adam brought about catastrophic consequences. It shattered the union and communion
that he had with God in the garden. That walking with his God and
Creator, that nearness which he had was shattered. He was
thrown out of the garden, sent out into a wilderness. All the
fruit, all the blessings that were in that garden in Eden were
lost to him. He went out into a barren world
and was told to farm the land in order to survive and yet the
land that he must farm was a barren and a stony and a hard land in
which weeds and thistles and fawns grew up and made it hard
labor. And he was barred from going
back into the garden, he was barred from the presence of God.
God withdrew because God could not look upon the evil, he could
not look upon the sin, he could not dwell with men and women
who serve themselves and serve their own glory and make themselves
into gods and shake their fist at the creator and sustainer
of all life and say we don't need you, we are fine on our
own and so God Put a bar at the entrance to the garden. A fiery
sword. You will not come here again. You cannot come in here again. Except this sword fall on you
and slay you. Except your sin is judged. Except there be death. So a great gulf opened up. A
gulf which stands between man and God throughout all time. A gulf which stands between you
and God. When mankind was created, he
was created and placed in the presence of God and yet you're
far off and you're far off because of Adam's sin and far off because
of your sin which you've inherited from Adam. What he did, you've
done. What he said in his heart, you
have said in your heart, you will not bow to this God. You will not have this man to
rule over you. You will not worship the Son
of God. Every day that you wake up with
dreams of what you will do and dreams of what you will do to
further your own glory and further your own pleasure and further
your own bank account and further your own dreams and desires in
this world. Every day that you grow up taken
up with what you will do in which you think nothing of God and
His rights and His glory and your hatred and opposition for
Him is a day in which you stand at a distance. And this distance,
this gulf, this separation which sin has brought in is pictured
here by the tabernacle. God had this people whom he chose,
the Israelites, the Hebrews. He brought them out of Egypt
by the hand of Moses. He delivered them out of captivity. But he came amongst them only
in one place, shrouded from view in this tent called the tabernacle. They could not come into the
presence of God except one went into his presence for them. God
was out of sight. Initially Moses went up into
the mount where he brought down the law. And the people stood
at a great distance and heard the lightnings and the thunderings
and God spake unto Moses and engraved the Ten Commandments
on stone and Moses brought it down to the people. But the people
stood at a great distance and said that they could not abide
to hear the word of God. It was so threatening. They knew
they were full of sin and what God had to say would slay them. They could not stand in His presence. and Moses brought that law of
God down to them and instructed them to keep it and they said
we will keep it but they broke it immediately and proved in
their breaking of that law as you have proved, as you continue
to prove man's inability to draw close unto a holy God because
we're full of sin And God can say unto you, you can come into
my presence if you can live like this. But you can't get one step
closer. Because every attempt that you
make to keep that law is an attempt that you make which is full of
sin. So the people were at a great
distance. And the tabernacle pictured the distance, it pictured
the separation. God came amongst his people but
hidden from view, hidden from sight in the tabernacle. And one man could enter on their
behalf. And when he entered, he was instructed
to take an offering on their behalf. and to slay the offering,
and to take the blood of the offering, and to take it into
the tabernacle, into the holy place, unto the mercy seat, and
sprinkle it. And only then would the wrath
of God against the sin of that people be propitiated. Now all this is a figure. for
the sacrifice of those animals, that cattle, that sheep, that
fowl, and the shedding of its blood and the offering of its
blood could not propitiate the wrath of God for anyone. It was
but a figure. but it's a figure of the need
for God's wrath against your sin to be answered. A price must
be paid. You will never stand before God
unless a price is paid for everything that you have done. Everything. You must pay the price. A price
must be paid. This nonsense of modern religion
that tells people that God loves everyone and makes it easy to
come into his presence, just say that you love Jesus, just
follow him is a lie and hides away the reality and the seriousness
of your state before God because you're full of sin and that sin
must be answered. Death must occur. because a sacrifice
must be slain in which the sins that you have committed are judged
and washed away such that God can say, my wrath, my anger is
quenched, the price has been paid. The priest could only go into
the tabernacle if an animal had died, if a sacrifice
had been slain, if there was blood. If he went in without
blood, God made it clear that that priest would die. There must be blood. This tabernacle. How many times
throughout the book of Leviticus do we read of the tabernacle?
How many times do we read the phrase, the tabernacle of the
congregation? And the door of the tabernacle
of the congregation. If an offering be a burnt sacrifice
of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish. He shall offer
it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle
of the congregation. The people, the congregation. had a tabernacle and that tabernacle
had a door and their offering must be made at that door and
taken in the tabernacle was a tent which was constructed and lifted
up and taken wherever the people went and when they travelled
and settled it would be erected And no one could enter but the
priest. It moved with the people. It
was not a building made of stone. Because it was symbolic of that
place in which God dwelt in the midst of his people. And God
cannot be confined. He cannot be kept in one place. He will lead his people. He will move them here and take
them there and he will go in their midst. And even this tent in which his
presence was made known was but a figure. In reality you cannot
confine God to a tent or to a temple or to a building. But it's a figure. of his presence
amongst his people in a body prepared for him. The tabernacle is a figure of
Christ as the temple is a figure of Christ. It is that place in
which God dwells, that place in which the people gather and
come unto God and surround. and by which they may come unto
God through the entering in of the priest. It is that place
out of which God speaks unto his people. The Lord called unto
Moses and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation,
saying, out of the tabernacle, God speaks unto man. and he speaks unto them in a
certain way. He speaks in his gospel and he
speaks through Christ, the tabernacle, the temple of God. There is no
other way in which you will hear the speech of God or in which
you will come unto God but by Christ. the tabernacle, the one
out of whom God speaks. And that one through whom the
people are united unto a holy God. It's the tabernacle here, as
the priest here, as the sacrifice here, is a picture of Christ. This book is full of pictures
of Christ. Moses himself as the mediator,
as the one unto whom God speaks and then through whom God speaks
unto the people is a picture of Christ. But this tabernacle
itself, that in which God dwelt, out of which God spake, is a
picture of Christ and his body, God as spirit, God who could
not be confined, came into this world, he came into the presence
of men, he came into this world physically and he came into this
world in a body, in a body prepared for the Son of God. in a body
prepared of the Holy Spirit for the Son of God, a tabernacle,
a temple in which Christ dwelt, in which the Son of God dwelt,
in which the chosen Son of God dwelt. Christ, Christ Jesus,
Jesus God's Saviour, Christ the anointed Saviour. dwelt in a
body, Christ the Anointed One, the Chosen One, the One that
God anointed as His chosen means by which He would speak unto
His people, as the One who would save His people, as the One who
would lead His people unto God, the Anointed One, the Tabernacle. And in chapter 8 of Leviticus,
we read of this Tabernacle that it was anointed. And Moses took
the anointing oil, and anointed the tabernacle, and all that
was therein, and sanctified them. And he sprinkled thereof upon
the altar seven times, and anointed the altar and all his vessels,
both the laver and his foot, to sanctify them. And he poured
of the anointing oil upon Aaron's head, and anointed him to sanctify
him. and Moses brought Aaron's sons
and put coats upon them and girded them with girdles and put bonnets
upon them as the Lord commanded Moses. This tabernacle was anointed
as Aaron was anointed, as the priest was anointed, it was chosen
of God. This is the means by which I
will meet with my people through this one. through my Son, through
Christ. Notice also with respect to this
tabernacle that we read repeatedly of the sacrifices, the offerings,
that they are brought to the door of the tabernacle of the
congregation. The door, there's an entrance
into the tabernacle, there's an entrance through the tabernacle
into the presence of God. And that door itself is a picture
of Christ. Christ says I am the door of
the sheep, I am the way, the truth and the life. He's the
one through which we pass in order to come into God's presence. You cannot come unto God but
by Christ through the door. And you cannot enter the tabernacle
but through the door of the tabernacle. And when Christ offered himself
up as a sacrifice for his people, his side, as it were, was rent
in two. The door was opened. The veil
of the temple, when he uttered his last words upon the cross,
was rent in two. And the access into the Holy
of Holies, into God's very presence, was opened. opened through the flesh, the
body of Christ, the door of the tabernacle, the means by which
we enter, the means by which we enter through a priest taken
in blood from a sacrifice into God's presence. We're led by
the priest. We're led by our priest. We're
led by Christ. You see, this door of the tabernacle
was shut to all but the high priests. You can't enter. If any man should enter, if any
man should have gone in there, he'd have been slain immediately. God would have struck him down
dead. Only the priest could go in and
only at the appointed time and only with blood. If you enter
this door, there will be death. And it's either the death of
the one who enters in without a sacrifice, or it's the death
of the sacrifice whose blood is taken in by the priest. Now one day, one day you will
come into the presence of God. One day you and I will, as it
were, stand before Almighty God. One day you will be led, as it
were, into the tabernacle, into the presence of Almighty God.
And if you stand in His presence, without a priest who has offered
a sacrifice on your behalf, without blood shed for you, without a
plea of an offering which is acceptable unto Almighty God,
then you will be slain, because you will be brought into the
presence of God as it were as one that entered the tabernacle,
sinfully, rebelliously, thoughtlessly, carelessly, without blood, without
a priest. When your life comes to an end,
you'll stand before God. Well, how will you stand? Will
you stand as it were as one that's entered that tabernacle wrongfully,
with nothing in your hand but your own plea of your own righteousness,
which God will dismiss as filthy rags? Will you stand before him, saying,
Lord, I have no plea, but the blood of Jesus Christ, which
was shed for me, the blood of the sacrifice, the offering,
which was shed at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation
by my great high priest, who has entered in and sprinkled
it on the mercy seat for me. Is that going to be your plea? There must be death to enter,
there will be death on entrance through this door but it's either
your death or the death of another. This door of the tabernacle leads
within and it leads ultimately to a place called the holy place
or the most holy, the holy of holies. And there is a veil between
the outer court, as it were, and the inner court. The outer
tent and the inner tent. A veil. Because the very presence
of God is so holy. And you can only enter with blood. Hebrews tells us so much of these
things, it as it were takes the book of the law, the books of
Moses, it takes Leviticus and it opens it up to us and shows
us how all these things point under Christ. In Hebrews 9, 8
we read, the Holy Ghost signified that the way into the holiest
of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle
was yet standing. All of that was a figure. But
when Christ came and Christ died and Christ shed his blood, he
made the way into the holiest of all. he shed the once and
for all sacrifice for sin he offered up himself and entered
in and he entered in on the behalf of his people into the most holy
place into the holiest of all and he went up with his own blood
to the mercy seat and sprinkled his blood upon the mercy seat
for his people to say all is well. All is well. The wrath of God has been answered. Not on them, but on me. In Leviticus 16, we read of this
mercy seat. The Lord spake unto Moses after
the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before
the Lord and died. And the Lord said unto Moses,
Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times
into the holy place within the veil before the mercy seat which
is upon the ark, that he die not, for I will appear in the
cloud upon the mercy seat. Thus shall Aaron come into the
holy place with a young bullock for a sin offering, and a ram
for a burnt offering. He shall put on the holy linen
coat, and he shall have the linen breeches upon his flesh, and
shall be girded with a linen girdle, and with the linen meter
shall he be attired. These are holy garments. Therefore
shall he wash his flesh in water, and so put them on. And he shall
take of the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of
the goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering.
And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, which is
for himself, and make an atonement for himself and for his house.
And he shall take of the two goats and present them before
the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And Aaron
shall cast lots upon the two goats, one lot for the Lord and
the other lot for the scapegoat. and Aaron shall bring the goat
upon which the Lord's lot fell and offer him for a sin offering.
But the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat shall
be presented alive before the Lord to make an atonement with
him and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness. There's a mercy seat which Aaron
could only enter into when properly attired. and with a sacrifice
and with the blood to be shed, to be sprinkled upon that mercy
seat. All of which is a picture of
Christ who went into the holy of holies, who went into the
holiest of all with his blood which he sprinkled on that seat. that mercy seat which sat above
the ark of the Lord which contained the law of God which said that
law and its demands and its penalties against the people have been
answered through my blood through my death for them. As the Lord
spake unto his people out of the tabernacle The Lord called
unto Moses and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the
congregation, saying, speak unto the children of Israel. He spake
out of the tabernacle, but he didn't speak out of the tabernacle
directly to the people. He spake unto Moses and told
him to speak unto the people. There was a mediator. There was
one who took the speech of God and delivered it unto the people.
and directed their offering, and directed the priesthood to
take their offering and take the blood into the presence of
God, there was one that went between. One that stood between
God and the people, a mediator. He is the one, Moses was the
one here appointed to bring these two divided parties together
and without that mediator there was no reconciliation. There was no union, there was
no forgiveness, there was no communion. There had to be one
which went between these two divided offended parties. Within
the tabernacle there was God in the Holy of Holies. And outside
there were sinners, the congregation. But between them stood Moses,
the mediator. Who again is a figure of that
great mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. As Paul writes in 1 Timothy 2
verse 5, there is one God and one mediator between God and
men, the man Christ Jesus. We need a mediator, we need one
to plead our case before Almighty God, we need one. who can take
a sacrifice on our behalf and present it in the presence of
God. We cannot do it ourselves, we
can't enter into the tabernacle. And we cannot hear God's speech,
except the one that he speaks unto brings it unto us. There
is a mediator, and that mediator is Christ, the one mediator. between God and men, the man
Christ Jesus, as Hebrews 12, 24 reminds us, we come unto Jesus,
the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling
that speaketh better things than that of Abel. Christ has come
from the presence of Almighty God, he as it were has left heaven's
glory, left the tabernacle and brought the speech of God unto
his people in the darkness of this world. The light has shone
in the darkness. He came into this world, came,
made a man, taking humanity into union with his divinity. He came,
made a man that he might suffer as a man, as a sacrifice upon
the cross. He came to where his people were. He came unto the great congregation. He came and preached righteousness
unto the great congregation. And amongst that people he was
slain as their offering and offered up at the door of the tabernacle
and as the priest he took his own blood of the sacrifice and
entered in to the tabernacle through the door, through his
broken side into the presence of his father and laid down his
own blood and said I have paid the price that they must pay. I have answered the debt that
they could not answer. I have quenched thy wrath which
burnt against them. I have wrought the righteousness
they could never wrought. I have brought in for them by
faith the righteousness of God during the hours of darkness
upon the cross, as he suffered, as he hung upon the wood, as
their offering for sin, as he suffered in the darkness as he
was made sin as he bore their sins as he suffered and drank
the cup of God's wrath his faith never wavered and he brought
in for them the righteousness of God God's righteousness burnt
against their sin and he brought it to bear upon their sin their
sin and God's righteousness met in him in the darkness And as
he was offered, he took away all the wrath, all the outpouring
of God's righteous judgment against them. He answered every question,
he answered every debt, he paid the price in entirety. And in the end, his blood was
shed. And it's that blood that he sprinkled
and that blood that answered and that blood that paid. because he was the perfect sacrifice
and he was the perfect priest you see we see here the need
for the priest the one who took the blood of that sacrifice and
took it into the tabernacle into the holy place to sprinkle it
on the mercy seat we need a priest and that priest is Christ The
priest himself, like the tabernacle, anointed with oil. who was passed
into the very presence of God for us, not in a tabernacle on
earth, not in a mere tent on earth, not in just figure, but
in reality. As Hebrews 4.14 tells us, seeing
then that we have such a great high priest that is passed into
the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. He's taken his sacrifice, which
he shed on earth, and gone up into glory, gone into the very
presence of his God, gone where the Holy of Holies truly is,
taking the blood not to a mercy seat on earth, not to just bring
us back into the presence of God on earth as it might be if
we were taken back to Eden, but he's taken his people up into
heavenly glory. and brought in for them a righteousness
which exceeds any righteousness they had in Adam when they were
created in innocence they are perfect, they are as Christ is
and his blood has washed them perfectly and having gone into
the presence of God with a sacrifice which answers every debt he ever
lives to declare the speech of God unto that people in this
world, to declare the message of a salvation which has been
wrought and completed once and for all. The Lord called unto
Moses and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation
saying, speak unto the children of Israel. and the Lord, of whom
Moses is here a picture, from heaven's glory, from the presence
of God, speaks today unto the children of Israel. He speaks
today by his gospel unto you and I. He declares what he has
done as the priest, as the sacrifice, as the mediator. He declares
his finished work on Calvary's cross. He declares the sacrifice
has been offered, the blood has been shed, the wrath has been
propitiated, justification has been wrought, righteousness has
been brought in. He declares his great salvation. He declares His grace. Have you
heard His speech? Have you heard His gospel? Do
you know your need that you're at a gulf by nature? Separated
from God, separated from His presence and you need to be brought
into God's presence. You need to be cleansed. Well
here's the one who cleanses and here's the means by which he
cleanses. Here's his salvation. Have you
heard his voice? Has he called unto you and called
you into the presence of God saying I have washed you, I have
cleansed you with my own blood? Have you heard the one unto whom
God spake? out of the tabernacle of the
congregation. Oh what an introduction to this
book this is! But have you heard? Do you know
your need? Do you feel the gulf, the separation
between you and your Maker? Do you feel the awfulness of
your sin, the guilt of your sin that separates you from God?
Do you see your need of a blood, of a sacrifice of blood to wash
that sin away? Have you heard the Saviour's
speech? the Son of God's speech, in the
darkness of this world, in the darkness of your soul, in the
grave of your soul, speaking unto you, a dead sinner, and
saying, all is well. I have brought in life and light
and salvation for sinners, including you. Has he spoken that unto
you? Has he said unto you, thy sins
be forgiven thee? Thy faith has made thee whole. Has his blood been shed for you?
Has it been taken in to the tabernacle and sprinkled upon the mercy
seat? has it.